Emir-Usein Kuku

On November 12, 2019, the Southern District Military Court found Emir-Usein Kuku and five co-defendants guilty of “organizing of the activities of a terrorist organization” and “attempted forcible seizure of power” (Part 2 Article 205.5 and Article 30, Article 278 of Russian Criminal Code). Kuku was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

On June 26, 2018, on his birthday, Emir-Usein Kuku began an indefinite hunger strike, during which he lost nine kilograms and declared an ultimatum to Russian President Vladimir Putin:

In November 2018 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which called for the urgent release of Ukrainian citizens Oleg Sentsov, Volodymyr Balukh and Emir-Usein Kuku.

On February 11, 2016, a search took place at Kuku's house in Koreiz, and was detained by Russian authorities. He has been charged with alleged involvement in the activities of the Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir although Kuku denies any involvement in this organization. In December 2017 Kuku and five his co-defendants, Muslim Aliyev, Vadim Siruk, Enver Bekirov, Refat Alimov and Arsen Dzhepparov were moved to Rostov-on-Don.

On April 20, 2015, after Kuku exposed the attempt of the FSB to recruit him as a secret informant, he was apprehended in camouflage by unmarked people, taken to his home, where he was searched and then interrogated by the secret service. It was alleged that investigative actions are conducted within the framework of a criminal case under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code ("Actions aimed at arousing hatred or enmity"). Kuku was beaten on the way for interrogation, later he was diagnosed with kidney issues in a medical facility.

Before the annexation of Crimea, Kuku fought for the preservation of a Crimean Tatar cemetery and was involved in monitoring cases of discrimination against Muslims. Since 2014, he participated in helping Crimean political prisoners and in the search for missing people. Kuku was the organizer of a rally in memory of the deportation of Crimean Tatars in 2014.

In 2000, Kuku graduated from Kherson National Technical University with a degree in management. In 2001 he graduated from Kharkiv Financial and Economic Institute majoring in accounting.

Emir-Usein Kuku (Ukrainian: Емір-Усеїн Куку , born 26 June 1976) is a Crimean Tatar human rights defender and member of the Crimean Human Rights Contact Group. In February 2016, he was arrested and charged by Russian authorities on the accusation that he was a member of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, although Kuku denies any involvement in this organization.

Kuku was born in Novorossiysk on 26 June 1976. In 1993, the family moved to Crimea. They obtained a plot of land for the erection of a house in the native village of Kemala Cook in Koreiz.

I, Kuku Emir-Usein Kemalovich, 26.06.1976 year of birth, citizen of Ukraine, Crimean Tatar, Muslim, will declare a hunger strike (refusal to eat) from 06:00 26.06.2018 until the issue of release of political prisoners in Russian prisons, correctional colonies, numbering 70 people. In addition, I demand that the repression of the Crimean Tatars and other believers in Crimea should be stopped.