Refat Chubarov
- Criminal Code
- Article 212 part 1, Russian Criminal CodeArticle 280.1 part 1, Russian Criminal CodeArticle 280.1 part 2, Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Cases related to mass actions
- Verdict
- Ban on activity, Imprisonment (in absentia), Mandatory community service, Fine
- Sentence
- 6 years
- Date of verdict
- 2021-06-01
- Region
- Occupied territory of Republic of Crimea
- City
- Simferopol
Case summary
Refat Chubarov - Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People since October 2013, MP of the Verkhovna Rada since May 2015. He urged Crimean residents to boycott the referendum on joining the Russian Federation. On 5 July 2014, he was banned from entering Crimea. On 29 May 2015, it became known that the Investigation Department of the FSB Directorate for the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol opened a criminal case against Chubarov under Article 280.1 of the Criminal Code (public calls for actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation). On 28 October, a decision on arrest in absentia was made.
According to the investigation, in April 2015, Refat Chubarov in an interview with Ukrainian media called for the violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, namely "the exclusion of the Republic of Crimea from the Russian Federation and its annexation to the territory of Ukraine".
Later it became known that Chubarov was also accused of organising mass riots in connection with the clashes in Simferopol on 26 February 2014.
On 1 June 2021, he was sentenced in absentia to six years in a general regime colony. On the episodes on calls to violate the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, he was sentenced to 200 hours of compulsory labour, a ban on holding administrative positions for a year and a fine of 200 thousand rubles, but was released from punishment due to partial decriminalisation of the relevant article of the Criminal Code.
Others charged under Article 212 part 1, Russian Criminal Code
What we write about political persecution
Recent material from this section. This is section navigation — the articles below are not about this person.
- 2026-09-04Georgia court clears extradition of Fugal ally to Russia
- 2026-09-04Russia labels Novaya Gazeta a 'foreign agent,' adds over 100 affiliated names
- 2026-09-04Russian court sentences hostage-takers from Rostov detention center to up to 29 years
- 2026-09-04Two Yabloko Duma candidates detained in Moscow two days before vote
- 2026-09-03British man says Russian police beat him, jumped on his head at station in Yessentuki
Source: this person’s record in the OVD-Info political persecution database
Published under CC BY 3.0. The criteria for treating a person as politically persecuted belong to OVD-Info; FACTUM relays their assessment and makes none of its own.
OVD-Info has been designated an «extremist» organisation in Russia — by decision of the Russian authorities, like other independent human rights and media projects.