CHALLY, Tatarstan -- The chairwoman of the Milli Mejlis, a self-proclaimed pan-Tatar parliament, says she will go on a hunger strike if Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) continues to pressure her.
Fawzie Bayramova, 58, is being investigated for "sowing ethnic discord."
She told RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service that if she is sent to prison "and something happens to me, people should know that I will go on a hunger strike immediately."
Earlier this month, several apartments of Tatar activists were searched by FSB officers in Chally, Tatarstan's second-largest city.
The searches occurred after the Milli Mejlis issued a statement urging the international community to recognize Tatarstan as a sovereign state, as Russia did with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Fawzie Bayramova, 58, is being investigated for "sowing ethnic discord."
She told RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service that if she is sent to prison "and something happens to me, people should know that I will go on a hunger strike immediately."
Earlier this month, several apartments of Tatar activists were searched by FSB officers in Chally, Tatarstan's second-largest city.
The searches occurred after the Milli Mejlis issued a statement urging the international community to recognize Tatarstan as a sovereign state, as Russia did with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.