Several hundred Crimean Tatars turned out on Tuesday to bury a man reportedly abducted and tortured for protesting against the Russian annexation of the peninsula.
Reshat Ametov, 38, went missing on March 3 and was found dead one day before Sunday's referendum in Crimea on joining Russia.
His body was found in a forest about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Simferopol, the regional capital.
Community leaders have alleged that he was tortured to death after taking part in a protest against the referendum.
The Crimean council of muftis said the body "had evidence of violence and torture".
Speaking at the funeral, Ametov's aunt Zera Kadyrova told AFP that he had three children, including a two-month-old daughter.
"He was brutally beaten," she said, as men carried his body, wrapped in a green cloth, to the burial ground.
"They said there would be an investigation, but we don't know how true that is," she added.
Around 300 people gathered at a Muslim cemetery near Simferopol to pay their last respects.
Several representatives of the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatars' representative body, told the crowd that the case will be investigated and warned against any extrajudicial revenge.
Human Rights Watch, citing a relative, said Ametov was last seen at a protest on Simferopol's central square, where he was approached by a group of men in military uniforms in front of the Council of Ministers building.
Footage from a local television channel showed the men leading Ametov away.
The incident stirred emotions across Ukraine, where several cases of tortured protesters occurred during the protests that led to the ouster of president Viktor Yanukovych -- including one in which a man was found dead in a forest near Kiev in January.
The Tatar minority in Crimea have protested against Russia's intervention on the peninsula and mostly stayed away from Sunday's referendum, in which the Russian-speaking majority overwhelmingly voted in favour of breaking away from Ukraine.
Human Rights Watch called on Crimea's pro-Moscow authorities to initiate a full-scale probe into the murder which "illustrates the climate of lawlessness that has been pervasive in Crimea over the last week."
Several hundred Crimean Tatars turned out on Tuesday to bury a man reportedly abducted and tortured for protesting against the Russian annexation of the peninsula.
Reshat Ametov, 38, went missing on March 3 and was found dead one day before Sunday’s referendum in Crimea on joining Russia.
His body was found in a forest about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Simferopol, the regional capital.
Community leaders have alleged that he was tortured to death after taking part in a protest against the referendum.
The Crimean council of muftis said the body “had evidence of violence and torture”.
Speaking at the funeral, Ametov’s aunt Zera Kadyrova told AFP that he had three children, including a two-month-old daughter.
“He was brutally beaten,” she said, as men carried his body, wrapped in a green cloth, to the burial ground.
“They said there would be an investigation, but we don’t know how true that is,” she added.
Around 300 people gathered at a Muslim cemetery near Simferopol to pay their last respects.
Several representatives of the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatars’ representative body, told the crowd that the case will be investigated and warned against any extrajudicial revenge.
Human Rights Watch, citing a relative, said Ametov was last seen at a protest on Simferopol’s central square, where he was approached by a group of men in military uniforms in front of the Council of Ministers building.
Footage from a local television channel showed the men leading Ametov away.
The incident stirred emotions across Ukraine, where several cases of tortured protesters occurred during the protests that led to the ouster of president Viktor Yanukovych — including one in which a man was found dead in a forest near Kiev in January.
The Tatar minority in Crimea have protested against Russia’s intervention on the peninsula and mostly stayed away from Sunday’s referendum, in which the Russian-speaking majority overwhelmingly voted in favour of breaking away from Ukraine.
Human Rights Watch called on Crimea’s pro-Moscow authorities to initiate a full-scale probe into the murder which “illustrates the climate of lawlessness that has been pervasive in Crimea over the last week.”
