15 March 2025
Reshat Ametov — The First Victim of Russia’s Occupation of Crimea
On March 15, 2014, the body of Reshat Ametov, a Crimean Tatar activist, was found. He had been brutally tortured and murdered by Russian occupiers for resisting the occupation of Crimea. Reshat Ametov was a supporter of the Revolution of Dignity. He was inspired by the national solidarity and civic activism that spread across Ukraine at the time. When Russian troops seized the building of the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea on February 28, 2014, he openly voiced his protest. On his social media page, he wrote:
“Approximately on Monday, I will go to the Council of Ministers for a silent protest. Are you brave enough to join me???”
On March 3, 2014, Reshat Ametov staged a solitary picket in the center of Simferopol to protest against the occupation of Crimea. The square was filled with Russian military personnel without insignia and pro-Russian “activists.” He carried no banners or national symbols.
Shortly after he began his protest, three men in military uniforms without insignia seized him and forcibly placed him into a vehicle. The police, who were present nearby, did not intervene. For the next 12 days, there was no news of his whereabouts.
On March 15, his body, bearing signs of brutal torture, was found in the Bilohirsk district, 60 kilometers from Simferopol. His head was wrapped in tape, and his wrists bore marks from handcuffs. The cause of death was a gunshot wound to the eye.
“Reshat’s body was mutilated with numerous stab wounds; his ribs were broken, his eyes gouged out, and his mouth left open. His body was so deformed that doctors had to piece it together like a puzzle,” recalled eyewitness Lierane Khaibullaieva.
His funeral on March 18, 2014, gathered around two thousand people, mostly Crimean Tatars, who, despite pressure and the threat of repression, came to pay their last respects. The Mufti of Crimea called for calm, and those present collected funds to support his family—his wife and three children, who were left without a father.
The murder of Reshat Ametov became one of the first war crimes committed by Russian occupiers in Crimea. The exact number of missing persons in Crimea since 2014 remains unknown, but approximately 66 cases of enforced disappearances have been documented. The largest wave of abductions occurred in the first month of the occupation, with around 20 cases recorded.
The criminal case regarding Ametov’s murder remains unresolved to this day. However, his name has become a symbol of resistance against the occupation. In 2015, he was posthumously awarded the People’s Hero of Ukraine honor, and in 2017, he received the title of “Hero of Ukraine.” He became the first victim of Russian terror in Crimea, and his struggle continues—in the memory of the people and in the ongoing resistance to Crimea’s occupation.