Human rights activist; one of the founders and members of the initiative group for human rights protection. During the Soviet era, he was a political prisoner, the leader of the Crimean Tatar national movement, a member of the dissident movement, the Presidential Commissioner for the Crimean Tatar, and the People’s Deputy of Ukraine from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc political faction.
He won the Light of Justice Award in 2011.
Mustafa Dzhemilev on receiving the Light of Justice Award:
“The very name of the award, Light of Justice, obliges us all to follow a bright path in the name of justice and truth, which guarantees the rights and freedoms of both the Ukrainian nation and the Crimean Tatar people.
It was with great honour that on July 9, 2011, I accepted such a high award on behalf of the entire Crimean Tatar people and their national movement, which I have had the honour to lead for several decades.
The presentation of the award to the representative of the Crimean Tatar people is an important event, especially in the context of the complex internal and external development of Ukraine, which obliges all of us to step up our actions aimed at strengthening democracy in Ukraine and its entry into a single family of freedom-loving peoples in the European Community.
Let me express my sincere gratitude to Mykhailo Shkilnyk, the brave man and Ukrainian patriot who was Mrs. Anastasiia Shkilnyk’s father. He was a distinguished lawyer and prominent public and political figure during the Ukrainian liberation movement in the years 1917–1920, who, throughout his life, carried love for his native land and cheered for its fate.
Ukrainian catholic university