European MPs urge Putin to stop punitive psychiatry against Crimean Tatar leader Ilmi Umerov

Members of the European Parliament addressed Putin in their joint statement urging to release Ilmi Umerov, one of the leaders of the Crimean Tatars and the Deputy Head of the Crimean Tatars Mejlis. They expressed their deep concern regarding the state of health of Mr. Umerov and condemned the activities of Russian authorities resembling the Soviet practice of forced psychiatric confinement used against dissidents of the USSR. Mr. Umerov was not only persecuted on political grounds but also forcibly taken from an ordinary hospital to a psychiatric clinic in Crimea. European MPs called on Russian authorities to immediately release the Crimean Tatar leader and provide him with appropriate medical treatment with no delay.