A concert “QIRIM: Echoes” took place in Kyiv, featuring an excerpt from Osman Arifmemetov’s book read by Akhtem Seitablaiev

On 27 February 2026, a charity concert “QIRIM: Echoes” was held in Kyiv, dedicated to the 12th anniversary of the resistance to the occupation of Crimea. The event combined music, remembrance of political prisoners and charity.

The event was organised by Crimea Daily with the support of the following partners: the Charity Fund Come Back Alive, the ATLAS Club, the Crimean House, the Crimean Front and TRO Media initiatives, Radio Jazz, the Fusion Jams music community, the Concert.ua ticketing service, the Human Rights Centre ZMINA, the Women’s Initiative Qadın Divanı, the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine, the media projects Crimea Vox and Qirim.Media, the My City platform, and the media outlet LiRoom.

The evening’s programme featured jazz performances by Yevhenii Dubovyk and the Usein Bekirov Quintet. Their music, infused with Crimean Tatar motifs, served as an artistic reflection on the Crimeans’ 12-year fight for freedom, dignity and the right to return home.

One of the highlights of the event was the story of the Crimean Tatar citizen journalist and political prisoner Osman Arifmemetov. During the concert, his book “My deportation. Reports of a Crimean journalist written in detention” was presented,  which attendees could purchase to support the author’s family. The publication, which was released on 21 May 2025 in collaboration between the Vikhola publishing house and the Human Rights Centre ZMINA, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, contains texts written by Arifmemetov in a Russian pre-trial detention centre about life behind bars, court proceedings and the political persecution of Crimean Tatars.

The concert also featured the premiere of a video in which Ukrainian actor and director Akhtem Seitablaiev reads an excerpt from the book. The text describes one of Osman Arifmemetov’s days before a court hearing on the extension of his pre-trial detention – a moment of anticipation, anxiety and, at the same time, inner resilience of a person who ended up behind bars because of his civic stance.

“I walk up to the window. It is a sunny day. The rays of sunlight reflect off the walls of the neighbouring building. A pigeon lands noisily on the wire mesh. It watches me intently. There are two sets of bars between us… I remember a Crimean Tatar song: “If only I could become a pigeon and land in my home courtyard…“.

All proceeds from ticket sales were donated to Come Back Alive to purchase automatic grenade launchers for the Security and Defence Forces of Ukraine. Part of the charity auction lots also supported the creation of the Bakhchysarai Quarter – a Crimean Tatar estate at the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine.

Representatives of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA also took part in the event.

“Events like these are important to us because they are not only charitable, but also engage new audiences, namely young people, for whom it is both useful and interesting to learn about the political persecution of Crimean Tatars, particularly journalists, in the temporarily occupied Crimea“, emphasised Viktoriia Nesterenko, human rights defender and Project Manager at ZMINA.