Another activist goes missing in Crimea

Another activist has gone missing without a trace in Crimea. On 19 July, 28-year-old Bitla Umerov, who lived in Skvortsovo village in Simferopol district, left his home and did not return.

The young man, like his family, had expressed an active stance on the peninsula's affiliation with Ukraine. Bitla's mother is an activist in the League of Crimean Tatar Women, while his younger brother is a member of the "Crimean Tatar Volunteers" organisation, which provides assistance to sick children in the peninsula. The disappearance was reported by Eskender Bariev, a resident of Sevastopol.

Bitla himself was temporarily unemployed. On 19 July, he left home to go shopping and has been out of contact since.

Eskender Bariev describes the young man as a sane and modest person.

It is worth noting that more than 20 people, including Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians, have gone missing in the peninsula over the past year and a half.