Tatars light candles in Kiev on the anniversary of Stalin’s deportation of their relatives from Crimea 72 years ago

It was 10:22pm when Ervin Ibragimov’s car was pulled over. The 31-year-old Tatar activist was driving home in the town of Bakhchisaray in Crimea.

Nobody witnessed the kidnapping, but a CCTV camera caught his vehicle being stopped a few hundred yards from his home by at least two men who appeared to be wearing uniforms.

The footage shows them marching him to an unmarked minivan. Mr Ibragimov struggles briefly and tries to run away but is dragged back to the van, which then leaves. He has not been seen or heard of since.

Two years after the Kremlin seized Crimea from Ukraine, its population of about 300,000 Tatars is facing a campaign of intimidation.

“I fear that Ervin is already dead,” said Ilmi Umerov, a