25 year-old Crimean Tatar man was shot by two civilian police officers in old Town (Eski Sehir), Simferopol, Crimea (June 13, 2006)

By Idil P. Izmirli

Arsen Aciasan who works as a gas station attendant in Simferopol went to pray at the Kadiyat Din Cemiyeti (Mala Fontan Religious Center) at the old Town (Eski Sehir) of Simferopol. After the afternoon namaz prayer, he wanted to spend some time with his brethren before he went to work again. When he realized that he did not have a pack of cigarettes, he decided to go to the nearest grocery store to buy a pack. While he was entering the store through the narrow doors of the grocery store, his shoulder accidentally rubbed the shoulder of the one of the two out-going customers who was in civilian cloths. According to the eyewitness account, this led to a violent reaction and the outgoing customer who was in fact a police officer who was in civilian cloths started beating on Arsen. As a young man, Arsen reacted on the beating and pushed one of the guys to the side and started to walk away from the grocery store. Before he was able to go far, one of the two civilian police officers s pulled up a gun and shot the 25-year old from his chest. Consequently, Arsen tried to get away from the area, when he was shot from the back of his leg one more time by the civilian officer. After the shooting, Arsen was taken to the Simferopol’s 6th State Hospital (Shestoi-gor Bolnitsa) and was operated.

After the shooting the two civilian police officers were arrested. After their arrest, it was pronounced that the the alchohol level in their blood was high, and that they were drunk. Since the police officers were in civilian cloths, by law, they did not have a right to carry their guns with them.

Mustafa Cemilev, the chairperson of the National Mejlis, came to the scene of shooting and talked to the members of the Mala Fontan Religious Center about the shooting of Arsen Aciasan who resides in Fontan micro-district (micro-raion) with his mother, father, sister, and totally blind grandmother. According to the hospital attendants, Arsen is currently doing okay.

These conflictual events are creating unrest among the majority of the Crimean Tatar returnees who are already worrying about the recent anti-NATO protests in Crimea that is influencing the summer season negatively. Every year ten thousands of internal and external vacationers spend time in Crimea and help the economy. The majority of the Crimean Tatars who cannot find an employment in their own professional specialty, are economically dependent on the summer vacationers. During summers they sell homemade goodies and food/produce in the beaches or roadsides and they live on that money during the winter. Crimean Tatars welcome NATO in Crimea, which met a strong opposition by the supporters of the Party of Regions (Yanukovych) and the Block of Nataliya Vitrenko.

Source: Crimea-L