The Barys Zvozskau Crimean Belarusian Human Rights House

CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

November 2018

Human rights mission to Crimea by three Human Rights Houses.

humanrightshouse.org Support from outside of Crimea is very important. For those behind bars, when they receive letters, when they know that outside someone is speaking about their cases and drawing the attention of the inter- national community to what is hap- pening here, when someone comes to Crimea to listen to their stories – all of that is extremely important. This is not a way to live, but it is a way to resist. LAWYER Defending political prisoners in Crimea. Crimea

SEPT 2018

Cover photo: Meryem Kuku.

Photo: Human Rights Information Center.

This photo: The mission travels through Crimea.

Photo: Human Rights Information Center. CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

ABOUT THIS REPORT

The Human Rights Houses Mission to Creative Commons licence, Human Crimea from 14-18 September 2018 and Rights Information Center (Kyiv, this report were coordinated by Human Ukraine), Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Rights Information Center, member of Human Rights House (Vilnius, Lithuania), Crimean Human Rights House. Human Rights House Azerbaijan (Baku, Azerbaijan), Educational Human Rights This project was realised by the Barys House Chernihiv (Chernihiv, Ukraine), Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights Crimean Human Rights House (Kyiv, House, Human Rights House Azerbaijan, Ukraine), November 2018. Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv (Ukraine), and Crimean This work is licensed under a Creative Human Rights House (Ukraine). Commons Attribution-Non Commer- cial-No Derivs 3.0 Unported License. The Mission and the report were made possible with the support of Human One is free to quote, copy, distribute and Rights House Foundation (HRHF) and display this work and to make derivate People in Need (PIN). works, provided:

HRHF would like to offer its sincere 1. One gives credit to the authors. thanks to its donors and supporters, 2. One does not use this work for com- specifically the Norwegian MFA and the mercial purposes. Swiss FDFA.

Support from:

humanrightshouse.org 4 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

CONTENTS

06 Mission by three Human Rights Houses 31 Case Study: Volodymyr Balukh 06 A “grey zone” with no human rights protection 07 Giving a voice to Crimeans 32 Case Study: Emir-Usein Kuku

08 Documenting the human rights situation first-hand 34 Access to Crimea 08 Mission by experienced human rights organisations 34 The Mission’s travel 08 Findings based on first-hand accounts 34 Ukraine complicates access 35 Russian Federation controls access 09 Human rights of Crimeans continue to be violated and creates considerable obstacles 09 Discrimination and persecution on ethnic grounds 09 Pattern of systemic violations 36 International legal framework 09 Wall of silence

10 Time to act 10 Recommendations to the Russian Federation 11 Recommendations to Ukraine 11 Recommendations to the international community

13 Human rights in Crimea: four years of occupation 13 From occupation to consolidated control 14 Atmosphere of fear and distrust 14 A framework of repression: Application of Russian Federation laws and the impact on human rights in Crimea 14 Curtailment of human rights and fundamental freedoms 15 Abuse of extremism laws 16 Freedom of expression, assembly and association: Findings of the mission 16 Stifling freedom of expression 18 Restrictions on freedom of assembly 19 Pressure on civil society and human rights defenders 21 Targeting of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians 24 The “conveyor belt”: Role of the judiciary as a mechanism of repression 24 Rule of law is virtually nonexistent 24 Violation of right to a fair trial 26 Appalling detention conditions 26 Families of political prisoners face hardship 27 Creating a climate of fear 27 Repression is growing 29 Transfer of populations and deportations

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MISSION BY THREE HUMAN RIGHTS HOUSES

Aiming to break the wall of silence and human rights situation in Crimea in its sive human rights violations against the document first-hand the human rights quarterly reports. Despite the UN Mis- population. situation in Crimea, representatives of sion’s numerous attempts, the Russian Within the “grey zone” of the peninsula, Human Rights Houses visited the occu- Federation has consistently denied it the people of Crimea do not have pied Autonomous Republic of Crimea access to the peninsula. The UN Mission access to any mechanisms of human and the city of Sevastopol (hereinafter therefore monitors the situation in rights protection, leaving them at referred to as “Crimea”) from 14-18 Crimea from the mainland. the mercy of the Russian Federation September 2018. government, which can violate their This was an opportunity for an in- The Russian Federation has also denied human rights with total impunity. ternational human rights mission to the UN Mission access to prepare two collect on-the-ground information and dedicated reports on the human rights People spoke of feeling abandoned and document the human rights situation on situation in Crimea, as mandated by the forgotten in numerous discussions with the peninsula. General Assembly in its resolutions 71/ the Human Rights Houses Mission. and 72/190. This denial disregards the It is therefore important to reinforce A “grey zone” with no General Assembly’s call for the Russian the scrutiny and attention given to the human rights protection Federation to “ensure the proper and human rights situation in Crimea, and unimpeded access of international to encourage journalists and missions Four and a half years have passed human rights monitoring missions and by international human rights defenders since the Russian Federation occupied human rights non-governmental organi- to travel to Crimea to document the Crimea in 2014. Over this time, the sations to Crimea”. violations that are occurring, and to peninsula has become a “grey zone” for strengthen advocacy campaigns at human rights, subjected to the rule of There is no “new normal” life in Crimea, national and international levels. Within the Russian Federation and practically despite attempts by the occupying this context, access to the peninsula is inaccessible to independent interna- power to convey such appearances to of primary importance, and conditions tional scrutiny. At the same time, the the outside world. The occupation of the should be eased to allow such visits to information that does leak out – primar- peninsula builds on a system of repres- take place. ily thanks to modern information tech- sion and maintains a climate of fear, in nology – indicates that the human rights which anyone perceived as an opponent “Support from outside of Crimea is very situation remains dire and that serious is persecuted. Specifically, Crimean Ta- important. For those behind bars, when violations continue to take place. During tars, Ukrainians, civic activists, lawyers, they receive letters, when they know this time, the majority of the human journalists, bloggers, and members of that outside someone is speaking about rights community in Crimea has had to religious communities are targeted, and their cases and drawing the attention of leave the peninsula due to persecution any attempts at dissent or criticism of the international community to what is and threats, and those who still work on official policies are deterred, supressed, happening here, when someone comes human rights run grave risks of perse- and silenced. to Crimea to listen to their stories – all cution and are forced to work under the of that is extremely important. This surface. Ever since the first arrests made by the is not a way to live, but it is a way to Russian authorities in 2014, the number resist,” said a lawyer defending political The international community has not of political prisoners has been constant- prisoners in Crimea. recognised the March 2014 unlawful ly increasing: at least 68 Ukrainians referendum on the status of Crimea, or- are now imprisoned in Crimea and ganised under the control of the Russian the Russian Federation in fabricated/ military, nor the subsequent annexation falsified cases. This situation is exacer- of Crimea by the Russian Federation. bated by concerted efforts to seal off the The UN Human Rights Monitoring peninsula and prevent Ukrainian and Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) has been international human rights monitors, operating in Ukraine since March 2014, journalists, and others from traveling to and provides regular updates on the Crimea, reinforcing impunity for perva- humanrightshouse.org 6 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

Giving a voice to Crimeans

The visit by the monitoring Mission brought together five experienced hu- man rights defenders from three Human Rights Houses. It has contributed to ensuring that the facts on the ground are known, and has helped to give a voice to the Crimean people.

During the four days spent in Crimea, the members of the Mission spoke to more than 50 people, including victims of human rights violations and their relatives, mothers and wives of political prisoners, and journalists, lawyers, and civic activists. Mission participants spoke to people who lived in Crimea prior to the occupation and did not Mission members Tatsiana Reviaka (Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House) and leave, as well as to people who moved Kyrylo Yekymov (Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv), with Shevket Kaybullaev (editor of from Russia to Crimea after the occupa- Avdet newspaper). Photo: Human Rights Information Center. tion. They spoke to people with different political opinions and convictions, and different political positions, including both people who had been against the occupation and people who had been in favour. All spoke of a climate of fear.

The primary focus of the Mission was to examine and document the situation for human rights defenders and the effects of restrictions on the freedoms of ex- pression, assembly and association. Yet, in the course of interviews conducted by the Mission, information was received concerning a wide range of other human rights violations. They include viola- tions of the right to life, the right to a fair trial, and the right to preserve one’s national identity, as well as the use of fabricated charges, torture and ill-treat- ment, and unacceptable conditions of detention. Mission member Aleh Matskevich (Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House). Photo: Human Rights Information Center.

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DOCUMENTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION FIRST-HAND

Members of the Mission shared their initial observations at a press conference in September 2018. Kyrylo Yekymov, Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv (l), Tatsiana Reviaka, Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House (r). Photo: Ukrainian Crisis Media Center.

Mission by experienced human Findings based on first-hand tary Assembly of the Council of Europe rights organisations accounts (PACE); materials of NGOs; and informa- tion from open sources and media. The Human Rights Houses Mission The primary source of information for this travelled to Crimea from 14-18 September report is first-hand accounts provided to Citations for all sources are provided. 2018. The Mission, and this report were the Human Rights Houses Mission during coordinated by Human Rights Information their visit to Crimea. In line with the thematic priorities of the Center, member of Crimean Human Rights Human Rights Houses, the authors of this House. Interviews were conducted in accordance report sought to document the situation in with internationally recognised human Crimea with regard to the rights to the fun- This project was realised by Barys rights monitoring principles. For reasons damental freedoms of association, assembly Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House, of security and confidentiality, the identity and expression. The report furthermore Human Rights House Azerbaijan, Edu- of the majority of interviewees has been contains information on the threats and cational Human Rights House Chernihiv withheld. Secondary sources consulted for challenges human rights defenders face in (Ukraine), and Crimean Human Rights the report include: case law of the Euro- Crimea and raises questions with regard House (Ukraine), with the support of Hu- pean Court of Human Rights; materials to the access for human rights defenders man Rights House Foundation (HRHF) and from intergovernmental organisations, to the peninsula, from both Russian and People in Need (PIN). including the United Nations, OSCE, and Ukrainian sides. the Council of Europe and Parliamen- humanrightshouse.org 8 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

HUMAN RIGHTS OF CRIMEANS CONTINUE TO BE VIOLATED

Since the Russian Federation occupied of law has been completely obliterated Wall of silence Crimea in 2014, the human rights of the in Crimea. Sentences are brought under residents of Crimea continue to be severely fabricated charges in trials in which At the same time, a “wall of silence” is being violated. From the impressions of the the outcomes are pre-ordained. These built around the peninsula, blocking access Mission by the Human Rights Houses and trials take place in contempt of fair trial and international scrutiny of the human the numerous testimonies received, the guarantees.1 Russian Federation criminal rights situation in Crimea, which reinforces situation has worsened. Repression has not law is arbitrarily and abusively applied, in the impunity with which the occupying decreased, and there is no indication that particular Russian Federation extremism authorities violate the human rights of the this pressure will subside. and anti-terrorism law, equating criticism population. or dissent with extremism. In some cases, The civic space where independent voices Russian Federation criminal law has been During the interviews, many people spoke may be heard has ceased to exist in Crimea, applied retroactively to events taking place of their lack of hope. They also expressed a and any attempt to exercise the right to before the occupation, in violation of sense of being cut-off and the fear of being freedom of expression, assembly, and asso- international law. forgotten – by Ukraine and the outside ciation is met with systematic repression. world. Civil society has been decimated and This includes intimidation, pressure, physi- At least 68 political prisoners – Ukrainian those who are left are weary and at a loss cal attacks, and harassment through judicial citizens – are illegally held in Crimea or in about what to do. Yet, there is resilience and measures, such as warnings, prohibitions, the Russian Federation on politically mo- a strong sense of solidarity and resistance house searches, administrative detentions tivated charges, or for their religion. The among people, who continue to take risks and high fines. Having a chilling and deter- Mission heard of unacceptable conditions by engaging in civic initiatives and standing rent effect, this forces journalists, civic ac- of detention and transportation during up for human rights. The people in Crimea tivists, and lawyers to cease their activities detention, and torture and inhuman need support to ensure that their human and places at risk human rights defenders treatment. Enforced disappearances are rights are respected and protected. This who dare stand up to speak of these viola- not being investigated and questions requires first-hand information and access tions. The result is self-censorship, not only from relatives of abducted persons go to the peninsula. The “State border” illegally of professionals but the population at large, unanswered. established by the Russian Federation, as stunting any attempt at civic engagement. Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars and Crimeans well as entry procedures put in place by who opposed the occupation are the pri- Ukrainian authorities, have created the Discrimination and persecution mary targets. However, the “conveyor belt” notion that the peninsula is inaccessible. on ethnic grounds of repression is reaching more and more groups of people. The Mission received Few Ukrainian journalists travel to Crimea Discrimination and persecutions on disturbing reports that those who support, to cover events. Human rights defenders ethnic grounds are directed against assist, or show solidarity with persons who should be encouraged to undertake regular Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, and are persecuted risk becoming the next vic- missions to Crimea to document the situ- on religious grounds against Muslims on tims and face intimidation and pressure. ation, building on the Mission by Human charges of extremism and engagement in Rights Houses. “If you want to document the organisation Hizb-ut-Tahrir – which Pattern of systemic violations the situation of human rights in Crimea, is forbidden in the Russian Federation it is important to write about it in the but not outlawed in Ukraine. Crimean Put together, the information received proximity of the people concerned – where Tatars suffer regular raids on their points to a pattern of systemic violations everything is happening,” one respondent communities and private homes, and that are well planned and coordinated. In told the Mission. live under the permanent threat of being what seems the execution of political will, persecuted as “extremists” and “terrorists”. the occupying authorities have created and Ukrainians also risk persecution for maintain an atmosphere of fear in Crimea, anything that is arbitrarily considered abusing charges of terrorism and extrem- “pro-Ukrainian”, and risk charges of ism as a means of persecution to dissuade “separatism” and “terrorism”. The rule all attempts of criticism or dissent.

1 Daria Svyrydova, Крымский процесс: проблемы соблюдения стандартов справедливого правосудия в политически мотивированных делах, 2018. (Available in Russian).

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TIME TO ACT

Recommendations to:

Russian Federation

• Comply with the provisions of international humanitarian • Immediately release and rehabilitate all political prisoners and law and end the unlawful practice of forcibly applying drop all charges against those who are arbitrarily subjected Russian Federation legislation in occupied Crimea, to criminal or administrative proceedings in connection including stopping the retroactive application of laws to with their peaceful civic activism, human rights work, or acts committed before the occupation. Remove restrictions journalistic activities. Create an enabling environment for the imposed on the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression of opinions and cultural, linguistic, and religious expression and opinion, and freedom of association, identity. including the restrictive regulations unlawfully introduced under Russian Federation law. • Remove the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People from the list of “extremist organisations”, lift all restrictions, and allow the • Ensure a safe and enabling environment for human rights representative body of the Crimean Tatar people to freely defenders, so that they can carry out their work without assume its functions in Crimea. hindrance and free from threats. • Cease arbitrary raids and searches, and the intimidation and • Create an enabling environment for journalists and harassment of Crimean Tatar communities and families and independent media outlets, whether in print, audiovisual, Muslims. or online, without hindrance and free from threats and persecution. Ensure that journalists from mainland Ukraine • Refrain from applying the Russian Code of Criminal have unimpeded access to Crimea and are able to conduct Procedure in trials, and cease the illegal transfer of detained their work freely. Crimeans to the territory of the Russian Federation, and cease trying civilians before Russian military courts. Put an • Respect the right to peaceful assembly and cease the practice end to the practice of deportations, the forcible transfer of of administrative and criminal prosecution for exercising Crimeans to the Russian Federation, and bans on leaving this right, including allowing single-person protests occupied Crimea. and the freedom to choose the venue for meetings and demonstrations. • Effectively and impartially investigate all alleged cases of enforced disappearance, extrajudicial killings and torture in • Remove restrictions on the exercise of cultural and linguistic Crimea since March 2014 and bring perpetrators to justice. rights of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians, including the free manifestation of one’s traditions and national symbols, in • Cooperate fully with all international and regional accordance with international humanitarian law. monitoring mechanisms, in particular with the UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, and all independent human • Ensure that human rights and fundamental freedoms can be rights monitoring initiatives. Provide them with full and exercised in Crimea in line with international standards and unrestricted access to Crimea and, in particular, lift the without discrimination on the grounds of political or religious requirement to obtain a Russian Federation visa to visit views, ethnicity, or any other grounds. Crimea.

• Put an end to the prosecution and imprisonment of persons who peacefully oppose the Russian occupation of Crimea, and allow them to express their views freely irrespective of the media used.

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Ukraine International community

• Simplify procedures for international monitors and foreign • Ensure that the human rights situation in Crimea remains on journalists and human rights defenders to access Crimea, the international agenda including at international human including by providing the possibility to apply online to rights fora. enter Crimea and developing expedient entry procedures for foreigners (including notification rather than authorisation- • Insist that the Russian Federation abides by obligations based travel). under international humanitarian law and international human rights law with regard to the population of Crimea, • Ensure and strengthen at the normative and legal level in particular as concerns the right to freedom of expression, mechanisms to provide legal, psychological, and financial peaceful assembly and association, and the right to be a support to victims of human rights violations in occupied human rights defender. Crimea. • Follow closely the situation of human rights defenders in Crimea and denounce cases of violations of their rights.

• In bilateral settings as well as in international fora: • Demand the liberation and rehabilitation of people imprisoned for their opinions, civic activism and human rights work.

• Call for accountability for the acts of intimidation, harassment, arbitrary detention and other human rights violations against human rights defenders and activists in Crimea.

• Insist on the Russian Federation’s cooperation with international and regional human rights mechanisms and the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, including by granting unimpeded and full access to Crimea.

• For international organisations: • The Council of Europe should continue to follow closely and address the human rights situation in Crimea. It should insist on access for the Commissioner for Human Rights and its monitoring mechanisms to enter the peninsula and be able to observe and report on human rights in Crimea, in accordance with its respective mandates and relevant resolutions of PACE.

• The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights should continue insisting on access for the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine to Crimea.

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Simferopol

14 SEPT 2018 The railway line that connects Crimea to mainland Ukraine is almost at a complete standstill.

Photo: Tatsiana Reviaka.

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HUMAN RIGHTS IN CRIMEA: FOUR YEARS OF OCCUPATION

people who considered themselves cit- From occupation izens of Ukraine, displayed any sign of to consolidated national or ethnic identities or showed disapproval of the annexation. Activists, control journalists and lawyers who opposed Russia’s annexation of Crimea or simply A period of extreme violence against spoke up for human rights were also the residents of Crimea began in late hounded out of the peninsula, or faced February 2014. This commenced with torture and persecution. attacks by the Russian Federation military, including in uniform with- Most of the human rights organisations out insignia, and with the ultimate and media outlets relocated to the overthrow of Ukrainian authorities in mainland for safety reasons. None of the Crimea. allegations of human rights violations committed by the armed groups were The grave human rights violations ever investigated by the occupying committed during this period are well power. Adding to the sense of impunity, documented by NGOs and internation- the Crimean authorities legitimised the al organisations,2 encompassing arbi- paramilitary organisation “Crimean trary arrests and detentions, enforced self-defense” in June 2014 through a disappearances, ill-treatment, torture “Law on People’s Militia of the Crimean and extra-judicial killings. During Republic”.3 These and other volunteer the first weeks of the occupation by groups, including Cossacks, continue to the Russian Federation, paramili- be active on the peninsula.4 In Sevasto- tary groups such as the pro-Russian pol, for example, the Mission was told “Crimean self-defence units” and that Cossacks patrol the town, though Cossacks moved around the peninsula they do not have any official functions. spreading fear among the population, carrying out raids and searches and During the months following the occu- abducting and killing people. Crimean pation, the Russian Federation gradually Tatar Reshat Ametov was the first to consolidated its institutional control and be abducted and killed, on 3 March built up its State structures in Crimea, 2014. Unidentified men in camouflage including secret services, law enforce- picked him up from the square outside ment and the judiciary. The methods the Crimean government building in of repression changed, becoming more Simferopol, where Ametov was holding systematic and coordinated as State a single-person protest against the organs took over. The human rights sit- occupation. His mutilated body was uation worsened: after a stage of severe found two weeks later. persecution, which included enforced disappearances and torture, the peninsu- Acts of violence, brutality and harass- la experienced a “systemic tightening of ment led many to flee Crimea, fearing the screws,” as emphasised by a number for their life. Among those targeted were people in interviews with the Mission.

2 The Peninsula of Fear: Chronicle of Occupation and Violation of Human Rights in Crimea, Olga Skrypnyk and Tetiana Pechonchyk eds, 2016, p88. Human Rights Watch, Crimea: Human Rights in Decline - Serious Abuses in Russian-Occupied Re- gion of Ukraine, 2014. Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Reports on the human rights situation in Ukraine, 2014-2018 3 Crimean Human Rights Group, Legalization of ‘Crimean Self-Defense’, Olga Skrypnyk, Head of Crimean Human Rights Group, 2015. 4 Human Rights in Crimea Militarization Context, Olga Skrypnyk and Irina Sedova eds, July 2017.

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Russian Federation authorities denied a Atmosphere of A framework of number of them the right to re-register, fear and distrust repression: generally on procedural grounds. As of 4 September 2017, 1,852 NGOs were Repression in Crimea obstructs the exer- Application of registered in Crimea, compared to 4,090 5 cise of fundamental freedoms, including in mid-March 2014. By June 2018, the freedom of opinion and expression, Russian Federa- number of religious organisations had association, peaceful assembly, move- tion laws and the almost halved since the occupation, ment, thought, conscience and religion. according to the Office of the United Compounded by patriotic propaganda, Nations High Commissioner for Human impact on human 6 this repression has had a chilling impact Rights (OHCHR). on freedom of speech, including public rights in Crimea discussions, and has created an atmo- The mandatory re-registration of media sphere of fear and distrust in Crimean Civil and political rights, in particular totally changed the media landscape. society. “Most people wisely do not use freedoms of expression, peaceful assem- All mass media outlets – online and their rights to defend their rights, to bly, association, and religion have been offline – were forced to register with speak freely, to go to a peaceful assem- curtailed through the application of a the Russian federal media regulator, bly,” commented one interlocutor to the complex and restrictive body of law of Roskomnadzor, and to obtain a license. Mission. the Russian Federation relating to these Editors were repeatedly warned by rights. This has been compounded by the officials that they would not be allowed Today, the Russian Federation is apply- use of Russian extremism, separatism to register if they disseminated “extrem- ing in Crimea its well-tested recipe of and terrorism laws. The effect has been ist” materials. After the deadline for persecution through judicial measures, disastrous for ethnic and religious com- registration expired in April 2015, only in which courts that lack independence munities and civil society, human rights 232 media outlets had successfully regis- and are subordinated to the executive defenders, civic activists, independent tered, compared to the more than 3,000 authorities dispense disproportionate journalists, lawyers, and the LGBTI that were registered in Crimea prior to 7 sanctions, to stifle fundamental free- community. the occupation. Authorities seized tele- doms and deter criticism or dissent. vision and radio stations and confiscated Charges are fabricated and brought Curtailment of human rights and the property of Ukrainian media. against those who are considered fundamental freedoms disloyal to the authorities, in particular Since the occupation, homophobic charges of “terrorism”, “extremism” Media outlets, civil society organisa- attacks have increased, fuelled by ho- and “separatism”, as well as of alleged tions, and religious communities, which mophobic propaganda and incitement by membership in Hizb-ut-Tahrir – an previously operated in an enabling the Crimea authorities, and comforted outlawed organisation in the Russian environment provided by Ukrainian law, by the Russian anti-LGBTI legislation. Federation. were obliged to re-register subjected to This has led to an exodus of LGBTI highly restrictive Russian legislation. persons and has paralysed the activities 8 “Russia very skilfully plays with its laws of LGBTI activists and defenders. on terrorism and extremism… instru- Prior to the occupation, a vibrant ments they can frame anybody with… and diverse civil society was active in In practical terms, the substitution of They are made for this, to tighten the Crimea, including human rights groups Ukrainian laws represented a consider- screws”, commented a lawyer defending and Crimean Tatar organisations. able retrogression and the application cases in Crimea, when speaking to the Many organisations left the peninsula of Russian Federation legislation has Mission. after the occupation, some due perse- severely impacted the enjoyment of cution and for safety reasons, and oth- human rights and fundamental freedoms Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians are ers because they declined to go through by the residents of Crimea. The forced particularly targeted by this form of the registration process under Russian introduction of Russian legislation repression, creating a sense of fear Federation law. Among those who lowered the level of protection of rights among activists. Some are imprisoned, stayed, many attempted unsuccessfully and freedoms in the occupied territory. while others work low key or stop their to register and eventually closed down. Regarding criminal law, the occupation activities altogether. introduced offences and sanctions that do not exist in Ukrainian law.

5 OHCHR, Report on the situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine), 25 September 2017, para. 167. 6 OHCHR, Report on the situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine), 10 September 2018, para 40. 7 OHCHR, Report on the situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine), 25 September 2017, para. 157. 8 Anti-Discrimination Center “Memorial” and Center for Civil Liberties, Violation of the rights of LGBTI people in Crimea and Donbass: the problem of homophobia in the territories not con- trolled by Ukraine, 2016. (Нарушение прав ЛГБТИ в Крыму и Донбассе: проблема гомофобии на территориях, неподконтрольных Украине). humanrightshouse.org 14 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

Ukrainian laws were substituted by ceedings in Crimea according to the is the application of the Russian Feder- the law of the Russian Federation on criminal law of the Russian Federation, ation legislative package on extremism, 18 March 2014, following the Treaty in a separate law adopted on 5 May terrorism, and separatism, which in of accession of Crimea.9 This was in 2014.11 The law also stipulated that particular targets Crimean Tatars and violation of the obligation under inter- it would apply retroactively to acts Ukrainians. At least 68 political pris- national humanitarian law to respect the committed in Crimea before 18 March oners are now held in Crimea or in the existing law of the occupied territory.10 2014, contravening a fundamental Russian Federation, most of them on The treaty also established automatic principle of international law12 – also charges that fall within this legislation. Russian citizenship for the residents reflected in the Constitution of the Scores of others are serving suspended of Crimea. The forcible imposition of Russian Federation.13 Under this retro- sentences or under house arrest, while Russian Federation citizenship has led to active law, a number of cases have been others suffer warnings and threats, un- the infringement of a broad set of rights, brought in connection with events not dergo searches and face administrative including conditionality on social enti- only held before 18 March (“case of 26 sanctions. tlements, which has placed restrictions February”14), but which do not relate to on access to health, education, and social Crimea or did not take place on the pen- In connection with the extremism law, benefits. For example, the Mission heard insula, such as in the case of Oleksandr the Russian practice of including people that children have been refused treat- Kostenko.15 on the “List of terrorists and extremists” ment in hospitals if the parents could managed by Russia’s Federal Financial not show their Russian passports. Abuse of extremism laws Monitoring Service16 is becoming increasingly used in Crimea, sometimes Additionally, the Russian Federation One of the most damaging effects on the without informing the person. Inclusion State Duma introduced criminal pro- human rights of the people of Crimea on the list results in financial and prop-

to social, racial, national, or religious The “Yarovaya Laws” (N 374-FZ and N Laws on discord.” The law contains no clear 375-FZ) adopted in 2016 amended definition of extremism. Instead it over 21 laws on grounds of “counter- extremism provides an extremely heteroge- ing terrorism”. They critically curtailed neous list of violent and nonviolent the space for exercising freedoms of and terrorism activities that can be considered to expression, assembly, and association. be extremist. After amendments in They include amendments to Article The anti-extremist legislation of 2007, the qualification of “extremist 205.2 of the Criminal Code, with prison Russia consists of the Federal Law activities” no longer requires that terms of up to seven years for publicly on Countering Extremist Activity there is the threat or the use of calling for or justifying terrorism online; (Extremism Law), specific provisions violence, and such activities can be as well as to Article 212.1 (on mass of the Russian Federation Criminal subject to prosecution regardless of disorder), providing for up to 10 years Code, and the Code of Administrative their consequences and the level of in prison for proscribing, convincing, Offences and relevant norms includ- public danger. recruiting or engaging a person in ed in a number of laws on public “mass disorder”. Article 205.6 introduc- associations, religious activities, public The anti-terrorism legislative package es criminal liability for not reporting gatherings, mass media publications, of 2014 added to Articles 282.1 a crime related to terrorism. The age and the investigative work of law and 282.2 of the Criminal Code, of criminal responsibility for terrorism enforcement authorities. establishing criminal responsibility was also lowered to 14 years of age. for “inducing, recruiting or otherwise The extremism law adopted in 2002 involving a person” in the activities of The Federal Financial Monitoring Ser- (N 114-FZ) criminalises a broad spec- an extremist organisation or commu- vice manages the list of “terrorists and trum of speech and activities. “Ex- nity, punishable by one to six years in extremists”, which is publicly available tremist activity” includes “incitement prison. on its website.

9 Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Crimea on the Accession of the Republic of Crimea in the Russian Federation and on Forming New Constituent Entities within the Russian Federation, signed Moscow 18 March 2014. See press release (English) and full text (Russian). 10 Fourth Hague Convention: Laws and Customs of War on Land, 18 October 1907, Article 43, and Convention annex: Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land. 11 Russian Federation Law on the application of provisions of the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation in the territory of the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol, Law No.91-FZ, 5 May 2014. 12 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, article 15. 13 Constitution of the Russian Federation, article 54. 14 Доклад Международной экспертной группы, Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union. Дело 26 февраля. Часть 1. Реконструкция и правовой анализ событий 26 февраля 2014 года у здания Верховной Рады Автономной Республики Крым в г. Симферополь, 2017, Roman Martynovsky and Daria Svyrydova eds. (Available in Russian). 15 Crimean Human Rights Group, Крым: украинская идентичность под запретом. 2016, Olga Skrypnik ed. (Available in Russian). 16 List of terrorists and extremists, Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service. (Available in Russian).

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erty restrictions, with banks and other in the context of persecution for extrem- of the “Yarovaya laws”, this can result financial services bodies able to suspend ism, terrorism and separatism. “Officials in a prison sentence of up to five years. the use of a person’s accounts and refuse from the FSB and the police Centre A man in the Crimean coastal town of to carry out money operations, which on Extremism (“E-Centre”) monitor Feodosia, who was formerly with the can include receiving pensions. People social media, open hundreds of cases, militia, shared a post on social media on the list are limited in their capacity to produce statistics, and get promotions”, and added a comment. He was handed carry out business transactions such as commented one interlocutor to the a two-year suspended sentence, with the sale of property, and notaries refuse Mission, suggesting the fight against two-years’ probation and a two-year ban to provide them services. The Mission “terrorism” and “extremism” pays off for on public activity related to publishing heard about numerous such examples. law enforcement. on communication networks including In some cases, the spouses of people on the Internet. the list were also barred from accessing External observers corroborate this. financial services, with families finding Russian human rights expert Vitaly themselves in financial difficulties as a Ponomarev notes: “With the anti-ex- Freedom of ex- result. The Mission heard from one man tremism legislation, Russia launched who was forced to find employment in a conveyor belt of political repression pression, assem- which he could be paid in cash, because where you can be sentenced on the basis bly and associa- he could not use banking services. of spurious cases which have little in common with reality.” Ponomarev thinks tion: Findings of In Ukraine, concepts and laws on that “until it is stopped, ‘the conveyor extremism did not exist. Adherence belt’ will demand more and more vic- the mission to any organisation, political opinion tims”, and that this type of case is a fast or religious beliefs was not forbidden. track for officials of special services to After “clean-up” operations in the after- People could protest if they were make their careers. 17 math of the occupation, the civic space dissatisfied with something. “Before, in Crimea virtually disappeared. Despite there was no forbidden literature; it was It is a criminal offence to declare oppo- the difficult conditions, people are mak- possible to go to the mosque when you sition to the occupation and state that ing numerous attempts to revive inde- want, read what you want; the person Crimea is part of Ukraine, and this is pendent civic activism, but they are met themself chose what they needed, what prosecuted by the Russian Federation with the determination of the occupying not. The situation is completely different authorities. The Law on Separatism authorities to suppress any attempt to in Russia: you can’t think this way; say introduced harsher penalties in May rebuild a civil society. Civic engagement something this way; you can’t walk like 2014, making it a criminal offence to is increasingly taking parallel forms, this, you have to be in the mosque at a question the Russian occupation, and including individual initiatives, as tight certain hour”, explained a person met by leading to prosecution under article controls affect the holding of assemblies, the Mission. 280.1 of the Russian Criminal Code. creation of associations, and the dissem- This is demonstrated in practice by the ination of ideas and information. Persecution on religious grounds pri- cases of journalist Mykola Semena and marily targets Muslims, but also Jehovah the deputy chairman of the Mejlis (the Stifling freedom of expression Witnesses – who are banned in Russia as executive-representative body of the Control of media an extremist organisation. The authori- Crimean Tatars) Ilmi Umerov – who was Today, audiovisual media is totally ties have confiscated the property of this under criminal investigation and house under the control of the authorities, community in Crimea, and regularly arrest for his statements in the media. with no news item or subject going search and charge its members. on air without their approval. As one The Russian Federation laws on ter- In addition to article 280.1, prosecutions person told the Mission: “Aksyonov and rorism and extremism are vague and are also recurrent under article 282 of Konstantinov never leave the TV screen; therefore “flexible”, and can be used as a the Criminal Code for “inciting of ha- every move they make is filmed.” (Sergey tool to repress any type of activity. This tred, and humiliation of human dignity, Aksyonov is the Head of the Republic of leaves space to package anything under with the use of the media including the Crimea, and Vladimir Konstantinov is the law, lawyers told the Mission. One Internet”. The legal uncertainty of this the Chairman of the State Council of the of them added: “there is always social article allows the authorities to bring Republic of Crimea.) media, where it is much easier to find charges against people for almost any ‘terrorists’ and ‘extremists’.” post on the Internet that positively The public channels all contain the same characterises Ukraine or Ukrainian propaganda, including a channel in More than once, the Mission heard activists, expresses support to the Mejlis, Crimean-Tatar language – “Millet”. The accounts of the predominant role played or criticises the Russian and Crimean private channels are somewhat freer, by the Federal Security Services (FSB) authorities. With the entry into force but abstain from any type of criticism. A

17 Human Rights Centre Memorial, «Таблиги Джамаат» и «Хизб ут-Тахрир»: на таких делах сотрудники спецслужб РФ быстро делают карьеру» Interview with Vitaly Ponomarev, 8 Novem- ber 2017. (Available in Russian). humanrightshouse.org 16 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

former journalist told the mission that criminal investigation against Semena. In he had stopped reading Crimean news- September 2017, he was charged under papers and watching TV, as they all show article 280.1 of the Criminal Code of Freedom of the same pictures, calling the media “a the Russian Federation for “calling for vile subservience to the authorities, in attempts against the territorial integrity expression the worst or even feudal traditions”. In of the Russian Federation”, in an article in one case, the Mission heard that the Krym-Realii. He was handed a two-and-a- The Russian Law on Mass Media evening TV reported that a “Hizb-ut- half-year suspended sentence and a three- has over the years introduced Tahrir cell” had been uncovered, but the year ban on “public activities”. Spyware had provisions that have restricted independent print and audiovisual searches only started the next morning. been installed on his computer without his media. These include stringent knowledge even before a court order was registration requirements, Independent TV stations all disappeared issued. During questioning, he was shown inspections, warnings, and the after the occupation, put under pressure screenshots from his computer, taken while possibility of facing lawsuits, and barred from registering. The Crime- he was writing the article about the block- and have been extended to an Tatar channel ATR was one of the last ade of Crimea. online media and websites. The to leave, having resisted and aired until laws adopted since 2012 have 1 April 2015 - despite multiple warnings Some media outlets have managed to broadened the power to restrict access to information, carry out by Roskomnadzor about possibly being survive, such as the Crimean Tatar weekly surveillance, and arbitrarily censor held liable for promoting extremism and newspaper Avdet, albeit with difficulties. information labelled “extremist”, spreading ‘rumours’ about repression on After 2014, the newspaper tried to thus closing the space for online ethnic and religious grounds. Ukrainian register four times, and each time was debate. This legislation allows TV channels from the mainland are denied. Avdet continues working without authorites to target journalists, blocked, as is access to online media, registration – the law does not require bloggers, political activists, online although reception varies according to registration for periodical publications media outlets and individual social media users. Roskomnadzor, the locations. While in Crimea, the Mission with print runs of fewer than 1,000 cop- Russian media regulator, has the checked access to Ukrainian media sites ies. The newspaper manages thanks to the authority to extrajudicially deter- on the Internet: of 40 outlets, 26 were support of the Crimean Tatar community, mine whether information online accessible, while 14 (35%) were blocked and many journalists work as volunteers. includes “forbidden content”, and by Roskomnadzor or led to a HTTP403 They print 999 copies, which people from to order its removal, blacklist web- (forbidden) message. around Crimea pick up and distribute in pages and websites, and order their area. internet service providers to block Prior to the occupation, Crimea had a them. Further laws undermine the privacy and security of internet diverse media landscape and journalists In 2015, Avdet’s access to subscription users and restrict users’ access to enjoyed broad space to express opinions. services, which is handled by the post, was information. Criticism was accepted and even if prob- blocked, as was its access to the periodical lems occurred no media outlet was ever distribution network. Avdet also has a The “Yarovaya package” intro- searched or shut down. website. Avdet has repeatedly faced acts duced further restrictions: provid- of harassment against its staff. Since 2014, ers and operators are required Threats to journalists the paper has had to move offices three to store information about users’ The persecution and repressive methods times after successive landlords gave them communication activities as of July used against journalists and media workers 2016, and all content of commu- notice. In one of the premises, the locks nications as of July 2018. Informa- following the armed attack by the Russian were changed during the night. Its offices tion must be stored for at least six Federation in February 2014 sent a strong were searched and documents and hard- months and security services can warning to others. As a result, the media ware were confiscated and not returned, access it without a court order. closed quickly. The journalists who remain and the FSB gave an oral warning to the Operators can only use encryption either practise self-censorship or have newspaper that it was not supposed to use methods approved by the govern- stopped working completely, conscious of the terms “occupation” and “annexation”. ment and are required to disclose the risks related to such activity, or they means to decrypt data upon operate informally or as bloggers, as they request by the security services. In 2016, a copy of the newspaper was sent Besides, in 2014, article 280.1 was cannot register or get accreditation. to the prosecutor’s office in Moscow for added to the Criminal Code on Rare are those who continue working on expertise. The office concluded that Avdet “Public calls to activities directed the peninsula. Mykola Semena is one of the contained “hidden extremism”. The pa- to violating the territorial integrity few Ukrainian journalists who continued per’s editor, Shevket Kaibullaev repeatedly of the Russian Federation”, which working in Crimea after the occupation, received official warnings and threats, in foresees criminal charges with publishing for various media, including for particular over the phone. The paper’s prison sentences of up to four years for making such calls, and up the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty proj- editorial team mostly works from home to five years if the calls are made ect Krym.Realii (“Crimea.Realities”). “to avoid being together in one place”. through the media. In April 2016, the authorities opened a

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Prior to the occupation, Kaibullaev Restrictions on used to publish a magazine on history, freedom of assembly Qasevet. It was discontinued in 2014 because of a lack of funds and the need Restrictions, administrative and crim- to register. inal sanctions The Mission met with and heard a Restrictions on freedom of expression number of cases of persons who have don’t only affect media. The poet Alie been charged with administrative Kendjalieva published an anti-war poem offences in the context of assemblies. in the newspaper Qirim on 9 May 2018. People risk sanctions not only for the Charges were brought against her for organisation of such events, but also “Rehabilitation of Nazism”, and under participating in them. Charges are also article 354.1 of the Russian Criminal brought for “unauthorised assemblies” Code she risks up to five years in prison. against single-person protests, although according to Russian Federation legisla- Bloggers and citizen journalists – the tion, individual protests do not require new targets pre-authorisation. Against such a backdrop, the Internet remains one of the few accessible means Russian legislation on peaceful assem- to obtain information in Crimea. Besides, blies foresees a long list of restrictions the disappearance of established media and conditions for both organisers and outlets both offline and online has given rise to a large network of citizen journalists and bloggers, which together with social Most people wisely media, in particular Facebook and Twitter, do not use their rights have become one of the most reliable source of information on Crimea. Citizen Freedom of to defend their rights, to journalism is rapidly replacing professional journalism, with growing numbers of social assembly speak freely, to go to a media users who stream, film and share information on events they witness. This is The Russian Law “On assemblies, peaceful assembly. particularly effective as the dissemination rallies, demonstrations, marches of information happens live and attracts and pickets” of 2004 has been the immediate attention of people – which repeatedly amended, successive- ly introducing more and more is important if, for example, there is an restrictions, particularly in 2012 attempt at abduction. During raids on the and 2014. Although the text still homes of Crimean Tatars, people from the foresees a notification procedure vicinity gather to watch and take pictures to organise peaceful assemblies and videos that they share online. They are as set out in the original law, the often threatened with arrest for streaming numerous changes have de facto what is happening, the Mission learnt. created an authorisation-based system and introduced a number of administrative offences. Fines Citizen journalists and bloggers who report for breaking these rules have independently on what is happening in been substantially increased, Crimea are therefore becoming the new and the 2014 law introduced two targets of repression. A number of citizen new forms of sanctions. First, it journalists have been detained and face included administrative deten- charges. Among them is Nariman Meme- tion, including for participants deminov, who was arrested in March 2018 in unauthorised public events. Second, prior to being discon- and charged under article 205.2 of the tinued following the decision of Russian Federation Criminal Code (Making the Constitutional Court in the public calls for terrorist activities using the case of Ildar Dadin, the 2014 law Internet) for his YouTube posts from 2013 introduced a prison sentence of and 2014, showing the retroactive appli- up to five years for a person who cation of laws to activities that took place has committed two or more ad- prior to the occupation. ministrative offences within 180 days (article 212.1 CC).

humanrightshouse.org 18 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

participants of public events, together NGOs) in support of the government, or and then rented an office in Simferopol, with a number of administrative and by the municipal authorities themselves. which they later had to give up because criminal sanctions for non-compliance of lack of financing and legal issues. In with these restrictive regulations. Im- Nevertheless, people still go to gather, August 2017, the Ukrainian Cultural mediately after the occupation, Crimean but after each such assembly participants Centre started issuing Krymskyi Teren, a authorities seized control and applied face administrative prosecution. Often, monthly Ukrainian language newspaper, these restrictions, and the courts started when small groups get together, even in but did not fully carry out events, lec- imposing punishments foreseen under places such as gardens and yards, law en- tures, literary conferences and language Russian law. According to the Crimean forcement attends to enquire about what courses because of formalities such as Human Rights Group,18 353 people were they are doing. failing to secure a venue. tried by administrative courts between April 2014 and September 2018: some Authorities do not only refuse as- The Centre has been under constant 334 fines were administered, together semblies related to human rights or pressure, with periodic inspections by with at least 22 cases of administrative considered political or “pro-Ukrainian”. the prosecutor’s office and warnings. arrest and 11 cases of community The union of Sevastopol entrepreneurs Its public activities, including paying work. Another 12 people faced criminal wanted to hold a protest because of the tribute to the Ukrainian poet Taras charges: eight were sentenced in the “26 closure of one of the main shopping Shevchenko, have often been disrupted February” (2014) case, in which charges centers in Sevastopol. In May 2018, or prohibited. Its members have been re- were brought retroactively for events the union’s lawyer Vladimir Novikov peatedly harassed, threatened, and called that took place prior to the application applied to hold an assembly in the city in by the police or FSB for “informal of Russian legislation. centre, but instead received authorisa- talks”, and in one case an activist with tion to hold the protest in areas in the In August 2017, 76-year-old Crimean outskirts of the city. When he challenged Tatar Server Karametov stood alone in this, the Court upheld the local gov- front of the Supreme Court in Simfero- ernment’s decision. This is not the only pol holding a sign to protest the ongoing time Novikov has been refused to hold trial of Crimean Tatars. He was detained, an assembly in the city centre, with jus- Freedom of and charged with breaking the rules on tifications including that holding a rally holding of single-person protests and would “restrict access to infrastructure, association disobeying the police during his arrest impede pedestrians and create obstacles (he suffered from Parkinson disease). for the movement of organised groups Russian NGO legislation has He was sentenced to pay a 10,000 ruble of tourists”. become increasingly restrictive fine and serve 10 days of administrative since 2006, including through the 2012 “foreign agents law” (N 121- detention. A week later, seven more Pressure on civil society and FZ) and the 2015 law on “unde- Crimean Tatar senior citizens held sin- human rights defenders sirable organisations” (N 129-FZ), gle-person protests against Karametov’s which considerably restricted the punishment. They were detained and Few associations have managed to work of independent civil society then released; one of them, 68-year-old register under Russian Federation law, organisations. This has resulted Yarikula Davlatov, was fined 10,000 and many voluntarily renounced reg- in overly bureaucratic and bur- rubles. istration, the Mission heard, due to the densome registration procedures cost, complicated process, and additional and reporting requirements that are difficult and costly to comply risks of administrative harassment. Most In October 2017, some 100 Crimean with, and broad discretion to Tatar men conducted single-person pro- of the organisations that formed after deny registration and limit the tests against the arrests in various places the occupation operate as “civic initia- right to establish or participate in in Crimea. The overwhelming majority tives”, a status which does not require an NGO. It also brought in broad of them were arrested and sentenced registration under Russian law. New powers to control and inspect with high fines. initiatives and activists have appeared organisations, and an obligation since the occupation, also to react to the for NGOs to register as “foreign Politicised authorisation increase in arrests and prosecutions, in agents” for receiving foreign Authorisations for public events are funding and “engaging in political particular of Crimean Tatars. activity” – defined in such a way handed out arbitrarily, depending on that it could include almost every the subject of the event, and are rarely The Ukrainian Cultural Centre, estab- civic activity. Together with a long granted for the locations requested – lished in May 2015, focuses on pro- catalogue of sanctions and pen- most are authorised for out-of-the-way moting Ukrainian culture, history and alties for non-compliance, this residential areas. Public events that take language. The Centre never attempted to legislation is effectively used to place in city centres are those organised register as an association. In the begin- silence dissent and criticism. by “GONGOs” (government organised ning, its members met in private homes,

18 Crimean Human Rights Group, “How does Russia persecute for peaceful assemblies in the occupied Crimea (infographic)”, 30 September 2018.

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the Centre received a visit by officials at her place of work. One after the other, the activists were forced to leave Crimea, after being accused of “extrem- ist activities” and threatened with arrest. In the latest case, Olga Pavlenko left in August 2018 after her apartment was searched. Practically nobody from the Centre is left, and its cultural activities have stopped. However, the Centre does run an “embroidery club” in private homes, where people can get together and talk.

The initiative Crimean Solidarity was created in 2016 as a platform for relatives of detained Crimean Tatars to exchange information and provide victims with legal, moral, and material support, and the assistance of lawyers and human rights defenders. It operates as a “civic initiative”, which means it is not required to register, but it experi- ences other forms of pressure. Crimean Meeting with Crimean Solidarity in Bakhchisaray. Photo: Human Rights Information Center. Solidarity prepared a website, yet when the platform was ready and the domain name obtained, the authorities blocked it. Several of its activists have been ar- rested, including its coordinator, Server Mustafaev, who is accused of Hizb-ut- Tahrir membership under article 205.5 (Section 2) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code. Together with other activists, Mustafaev remains in pre-trial detention.

Crimean Human Rights Contact Group was created in October 2014 as a civic initiative. Initially, one of its aims was to be in contact with the authorities re- garding arrests, disappearances and ab- ductions, but this was discontinued due to a lack of official response. Within the framework of its human rights activities, the group provides legal and psychologi- cal assistance to families whose relatives have been abducted. The son of one of its members, Abdureshit Djepparov, has been abducted. Djepparov is also regu- Meeting with Crimean Solidarity in Bakhchisaray. Photo: Human Rights Information Center. larly put under psychological pressure: he has been followed by men in a jeep; when he crosses the Russian border he is questioned; and he has the feeling that he is being followed and watched.

In March 2018, Suleiman Kadyrov was convicted and given a suspended sen- tence under article 280.1 of the Russian humanrightshouse.org 20 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

Criminal Code, for “calls for violation The Mission documented a number of The same system applies for education in of the territorial integrity of the Russian accounts of individual initiatives and ex- Crimean Tatar. Federation”. A retired lawyer, he started pressions of solidarity. This is especially documenting human rights violations true in the Crimean Tatar community: The Crimean Tatar Children’s Center after the occupation. Going public with when the family of a political prisoner “Elif” opened in Dzhankoy in October them, including on TV, he attended needs help, people get together and 2015. It educates about 20 children aged court hearings, gave people legal ad- respond, and Crimean Solidarity shares two to six years, and does not conceal the vice and helped them to obtain their information on social media. In 2017, national or religious component of its Ukrainian documents. His house has Crimean Solidarity organised the education. Three months after it opened, been searched twice, in November 2015 “Crimean Marathon” – a fundraising the authorities came to the centre to carry and then again in October 2016, after event to pay the high fines imposed on out a “complex inspection”. This included which he was charged with separatism Crimean Tatars for holding protests, representatives of the prosecutor’s office, over a comment on Facebook criticising filming police raids or publishing the police, the FSB, the Federal Service the occupation of Crimea. In addition to critical social media posts. People were for Supervision of Consumer Rights his two-year suspended sentence, he is invited to donate 10-ruble coins, and Protection and Human Well-Being, the barred from “public activities”. the campaign managed to raise 826,000 Ministry of Emergency Situations, and rubles. Following the success of this the education department. They searched For Lutfie Zudieva, the director of the event, a second Marathon was organised the premises in the absence of the director Children’s Centre Elif, the starting point in February 2018. This collected two and without asking permission. Small for her civil engagement was the search- million rubles and received donations children, who were present were fright- es and harassment of the Centre, having from people living in mainland Ukraine ened and hid under the tables. During the experienced how “the lack of knowledge and abroad. visit, some 20 books were taken away for of one’s human rights is exploited”. After “linguistic expertise” and only returned al- that, she started to work as a lay public “For every activist who is put in prison, most a year later, without any conclusion defender, which is possible under Rus- there are two new ones. More and more or explanation. sian Federation law. Her first experience people come and attend the trials; every was after the mass arrests of Crimean time you see new faces, people from After this incident, the director of the Tatars after the single-person protests all walks of life”, the Mission heard Centre, Lutfie Zudieva, was summoned on 14 October 2017, when more than from lawyer Emil Kurbedinov, who has to the prosecutor’s office to give an 17 trials were ongoing in the Northern previously been sentenced to 10 days ad- explanation. She refused to speak without Crimean town of Dzhankoy and there ministrative detention for “distributing the presence of a lawyer and asked about was a shortage of defence lawyers. Since extremist materials”. the reasons for the sudden inspection. then, she has worked within dozens of The prosecutor reproached her for having trials, and the number is increasing. In Targeting of Crimean Tatars and spoken to the media about the search and her view, there are many defenders who Ukrainians other unlawful actions by the officials. are interested in developing in this field Zudieva filed a complaint. During another of work, and she sees a need to raise The space for the manifestation of visit to the Centre, officials asked to people’s awareness of their legal rights, Ukrainian culture and identity has shrunk see all of its documents, including the especially in small towns and villages. significantly. Although the law and the teaching programmes and administrative Zudieva continues her civic activism, “constitution” of Crimea recognise three documents. In March 2017, the Centre both as a lay public defender and as an official languages, the authorities do received a fine for minor violations of activist with Crimean Solidarity. everything in their power to suppress health and sanitary regulations. In June the use of Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar. 2017, an inspection by the prosecutor When a raid by the authorities started The curriculum in Crimean schools took place “in the framework of compli- in the central Crimean town of Bakh- focuses exclusively on Russian culture. ance with legislation on education”, this chisaray in May 2016, Crimean Tatar Ukrainian-language schools have disap- time also in the presence of represen- activist Seyran Saliev ran to the mosque peared, and only some of the remaining tatives from the education department. and through the microphone informed schools have separate Ukrainian classes. Again, all documents were examined, the population that a search operation including the log of visitors, discussions was underway at four houses of Crimean For a class to be provided in Ukrainian, with parents, and the calendar of work. Tatars, calling for solidarity. He was parents must request this in writing, After the searches, the number of children arrested and placed in administrative and a minimum number of requests are attending the Centre decreased from 20 to detention, but continued to engage required for a school to open such a class. 12. The Centre is fighting for survival. in activism. In October 2017, he was This is however not encouraged, and arrested together with five other resi- increasingly parents refrain from writing Displaying attachment to Ukrainian dents of Bakhchisaray and charged with such requests for fear of being exposed. national symbols and literary or historic terrorism and belonging to a Hizb-ut- The result is a diminishing number of figures exposes people to warnings, Tahrir group. classes due to a “lack of demand”. sanctions and threats or charges of

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separatism. Today in Crimea, there are was banned from leaving Crimea and – the highest self-governing representa- no newspapers or magazines in the accused of “inciting hatred” under article tive body of the Crimean Tatar people. Ukrainian language. People face xeno- 282.1 of the Russian Federation Crim- As such, it could not be outlawed. This phobic slurs if they speak Ukrainian inal Code. In December 2017, she was argument was not considered by the in the street, as one person told the handed a two-year suspended sentence. Supreme Court in its decision to uphold mission, nowadays “only grandmothers Kytaiska has been placed on the list of the ban, the Mission heard. speak Ukrainian”. “extremists and terrorists”, which means that she cannot access banking services Members of the Mejlis and Crimean The list of Ukrainians detained for or sell her apartment. Tatar activists are harassed and im- alleged “Right Sector membership” on prisoned. The persecution of Crimean charges of sabotage, separatism, and ter- The number of prosecutions for “pro- Tatars has continued since 2014, and rorism continues to grow, having started Ukrainian” or “anti-Russian” posts or has become worse. An increasing in 2014 with an early wave of arrests reposts on social media, some dating number of Tatars are arrested on fake including of filmmaker Oleh Sentsov back to before the occupation, has been charges of terrorism and extremism, and (winner of the 2018 Sakharov Prize), ac- steadily increasing. In June 2018, Elina authorities repeatedly search and raid tivist Oleksander Kolchenko and others. Mamedova, a bank employee from Yalta, Crimean communities, private homes, To face such charges, it is sufficient for a was charged under art. 280.2 (public and businesses. OHCHR documented person to hang a Ukrainian flag on their calls for the implementation of extremist 57 searches in 2017, of which 53 con- house, as was the case for Volodymyr activities) of the Russian Criminal Code cerned Crimean Tatar properties, and Balukh, or to post comments on the for reposts of pro-Ukrainian posts on 38 searches in the first half of 2018, “Crimea is Ukraine” group on social VKontakte in 2014 and 2015. She was of which 30 concerned properties of media platform VKontakte, as happened released but forbidden to leave Crimea, Crimean Tatars. to Ihor Movenko, who was sentenced and placed on the list of “extremists and to two-years in prison on charges of terrorists”. The number of searches carried out in extremism. the first six months of 2018 has nearly Severe targeting of Crimean Tatars tripled compared to the similar period A few weeks before his arrest, Movenko Crimean Tatars have since the beginning in 2017, when 14 searches were docu- was attacked by a police officer while of the occupation been severely targeted. mented, 11 of which concerned Crimean riding a bicycle displaying a sticker with Many of them boycotted the March 2014 Tatars. 20 the symbol of the Ukrainian Azov Bat- referendum and took part in public pro- talion. For half a year, he unsuccessfully tests for Crimea to remain in Ukraine. Increasingly, Crimean Tatars are attempted to file a complaint regarding The majority of Mejlis members refused being charged with being members of this attack. More than this, in April to cooperate with the Russian authori- “Hizb-ut-Tahrir”. New methods for 2017, he was charged under article 280 ties, and Mejlis leaders Mustafa Dzhe- such charges consist of uncovering of the Russian Criminal Code (public milev and Refat Chubarov are banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir “extremist cells” and calls to extremist activities) for his com- by the Russian authorities from entering simultaneously arresting several people. ments on VKontakte. He was held in the Crimea, currently residing in mainland A “Sevastopol group”, “Yalta group”, Simferopol pre-trial detention centre. Ukraine. Crimean Tatar media outlets “Simferopol group” and two “Bakhchis- have been shut down, while the Mejlis aray groups” have already been arrested. Prior to the occupation, Larysa Kytaiska – which took an open stand against the Many of those charged and convicted was a member of the Yalta Municipal referendum – was declared an extremist for extremism are active within the civic Council and a Maidan activist. She and organisation and banned. The Supreme initiative Crimean Solidarity, which her family left for the mainland after Court of Crimea examined the ban on protects political prisoners and dissemi- the occupation, but Kytaiska returned to the Mejlis in April 2016.19 nates information. Yalta in July 2016 to sell their apartment. A few days after she arrived, her apart- During the hearing, the deputy chair of The Mission heard claims that their per- ment was searched without a warrant. the Mejlis, Nariman Dzhelyal, under- secution is related to their civic engage- For an alleged anti-Russian Facebook lined that the Mejlis is not a public asso- ment. A disturbing detail is that several post – which she denies writing – she ciation, but the executive of the Kurultay of them had been previously contacted

19 Speech of Nariman Dzhelyal before the Supreme Court, QHA media, 27 April 2016. 20 OHCHR, Report on the situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine), 10 September 2018, para 31. humanrightshouse.org 22 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

by the FSB to act as informants, and had refused.

The human rights organisation Me- morial notes that “four years after the annexation, Crimea has joined the three regions [in Russia] with the most large- scale persecution on grounds of Hizb- ut-Tahrir by the Russian authorities, targeting a group historically disloyal to Russia, the Crimean Tatars”. 21

The mission documented numerous accounts of raids and searches in Crimean Tatar communities, and of the disproportionate use of force. During a raid, the streets around are cut off by special services wearing masks and carrying automatic rifles, and nobody is Abdureshit Djepparov, Crimean Tatar activist whose son and nephew were kidnapped in 2014. allowed to leave, even children. In Bakh- Photo: Human Rights Information Center. chisaray, during one of the raids, six Zarema Kulametova had her son taken As the mission learnt, people face other streets were cut off and onlookers were away by police during a search of their forms of pressure such as threats to de- photographed and had their documents house. Later the same day, she went to prive them of parental rights and of the checked. the district police station to enquire ability to find work, and more surrepti- about her son. She was charged with tious forms such as cutting off gas and In Simferopol, the Mission was told of “insulting a policeman”, according to a electricity during the winter months, or frequent raids, which mostly take place lawyer who spoke to the Mission, and ensuring people are refused when trying on Thursdays (the population calls them was sentenced to 250 hours community to rent an apartment, because landlords “clean Thursday”). These “show” raids, work – cleaning the city park. More and are afraid of getting into trouble with interlocutors believe, are carried out to more people started going to show their the secret services. build psychological pressure and to instil support. The police picked Kulametova fear, signalling that this can happen to up at the park, went to her house and This persecution aims to quell dissent anyone. During the raids, the authorities undertook a search. They fined her and targets first the people who have detain people who come to show their 1,000 rubles for a video she reposted in their own opinion, “who did not sit at support to the family being searched or 2011. Her daughter and husband, who home… who are the first to go and ask who come to film and stream what is were present at the house during the what happened,” the Mission heard. happening. search, objected and received adminis- Several people told the Mission that the trative sanctions. harassment of Ukrainians and Crimean The Mission heard numerous cases of Tatars, including through the abuse of people being searched, taken away for As women are becoming increasingly judicial means, is aimed at pushing them questioning, and having their mobile active, more and more are being prose- to leave the peninsula. When Volodymyr phones and computers confiscated, cuted. While for the moment the major- Balukh’s mother went to the pre-trial before then released often without ity of these cases remain administrative, detention centre to visit her son, the explanation. Such cases demonstrate the Mission heard concerns that the head of the centre told her: “Let the bas- the arbitrary nature of the harassment. feminisation of repression will increase tard go to his Ukraine”. Ukrainians and On the eve of the Russian presidential and that authorities will escalate the use Crimean Tatars feel that they are being elections, many Crimean Tatars were of criminal charges. persecuted for what they are: for their called in for “talks”, which were, in fact, culture, language, religion, and identity. warnings.

21 Memorial, “Ялтинское дело о членстве в запрещённой «Хизб ут-Тахрир»”. (Available in Russian).

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occurred in mainland Ukraine. Courts The “conveyor also frequently ignore claims of human belt”: Role of rights violations occurring in detention. the judiciary as Violation of right to a fair trial

a mechanism The increasing persecution on ethnic and religious grounds has led to an of repression increase in criminal trials on charges of extremism, terrorism and separatism. A Rule of law is virtually number of cases have been relocated for nonexistent trial to the Northern Caucasus District Military Court in Rostov, which further In today’s Crimea, the rule of law is violates the fundamental fair trial virtually non-existent, and the judiciary requirements of international law that suffers from a lack of independence and civilians should not be tried by military dominance by the executive authorities courts. – the same as the judicial system in the Russian Federation. Lawyers who spoke A number of suspended sentences have to the Mission asserted that courts been supplemented with a “ban on pub- operate correctly in civil cases, and in lic activities”, which presents an effective Until it is stopped, some administrative cases, so long as the way to prevent a person from speaking cases are not “political”. Yet, in politically out or engaging in activism or human ‘the conveyor belt’ will motivated cases, the judiciary remains rights work. People affected by this demand more and a major tool of persecution, used by the ban have to report once a month to the authorities to stifle dissent and deter police station of their place of residence more victims. criticism. Judicial harassment follows to verify that the ban is being respected. a pattern of stepping up pressure. This However, people affected by such bans starts with administrative sanctions note that it has not been explained to and builds to fines – which are dispro- them what constitutes “public activities”, portionately high compared to the low despite their attempts to clarify this. All incomes of people sentenced. Escalating, spoke of an absence of clear rules on the Courts dispense administrative what activities are forbidden and which detentions, followed by warnings and are permitted. In this way, criminal then criminal charges. The numerous charges effectively contribute to curtail- testimonies received by the mission ing freedom of expression and the work suggest that administrative offences are of human rights defenders. stacked, leading to increased sanctions. For example, charges for disobeying law Trials are fraught with procedural ir- enforcement could be added to organis- regularities, denials of due process, and ing an unauthorised public event. violations of fair trial standards. Except in civil cases, residents of Crimea cannot Judges apply administrative and criminal expect justice from their courts, one law provisions to a wide variety of lawyer told the Mission: “Once the FSB activities related to holding peaceful and the Centre on Extremism (E-Centre) assemblies, and exercising the rights to are involved, the outcome of the trial is freedom of expression and association. pre-determined. Judges blindly accept They do so even in cases where the law all the information, testimonies, and as- does not provide for sanctions, such as sessments produced by the prosecution the holding of single-person protest, or and investigative bodies, and render the where the law would need be applied decisions that are expected from them.” retroactively, such as in relation to events that preceded the occupation or humanrightshouse.org 24 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

Lawyers from the Agora International they mix up dates or forget to change are conducted in cases that call for Human Rights Group who defend the names in the documents or use the “special scientific knowledge”, and such cases in Crimea, note that most trials wrong articles. All this shows that the evaluations have come to be used also in in Crimea conclude with a sentence, rulings are decided in advance and that trials related to extremism. A category whereas in Russia there are cases of they are not interested in the proceed- of experts with links — both direct and acquittals for similar charges. Also, sen- ings,” reported a lawyer speaking to the indirect — to Russian federation law tences for extremism seem to be harsher Mission. enforcement agencies has also emerged. in Crimea than in Russia. “The mission of these experts… is to In the hearings of the case of the protect the State, ignoring both profes- The Mission was informed about journalist Mykola Semena, the defence sional standards and common sense,” case materials being fake or tampered contended that Semena’s position on writes Dmitry Dubrovsky, a researcher with. Protocols of interrogation and Crimea being a territory of Ukraine co- at the Centre for Independent Social indictments have also been found to be incided with the position adopted by the Research.22 As a lawyer explained to the word-for-word identical in some cases, UN General Assembly and the Council Mission: “Far-fetched conclusions by with only the names and dates changed, of Europe, backed up by references to ‘experts’ working for the FSB can trans- suggesting that templates are used. Some international legal instruments. The form any harmless conversation into a of the documents presented have also expert of the defence also tried in vain to secret agreement among extremists”. been full of factual inaccuracies such explain to the judges that international as to names or dates. Judges have also law, which in the Russian Federation A lack of expertise in specific fields is permitted protocols that were evidently takes precedence over national law, another issue, such as with historians changed after they were received by the allowed Semena to disagree with the being entrusted to evaluate a question defendant, even when lawyers showed Russian authorities’ position on Crimea. of religion. The Mission heard about that their clients had a different version The judges ignored all the arguments the case of a linguistic expert engaged to of the same document. on constitutionality and international analyse whether Mykola Semena’s article legal norms. The defence also argued contained elements of incitement had It is difficult for lawyers to ensure the that the provisions of article 280.1 of a degree in Chinese from Vladivostok. defence of their clients in such circum- the Criminal Code were contrary to the Her evaluation contained 72 spelling stances. Crimea has an acute lack of Russian Constitution, which guarantees mistakes, of which 20 were of primary defence lawyers, and the Mission heard freedom of speech (Semena’s article was school level. In the trial against Ihor that sometimes the hearings in cases of published as an “opinion”). Movenko, the linguistic expert had a the same lawyer are scheduled to take medical degree, and was incapable of place at the same time. Within the court system, the use of fake explaining which of five established and anonymous witnesses is widespread. evaluation criteria had been used to Lawyers receive case materials very The same witnesses appear in different prepare the assessment. late; in one case a lawyer was given 20 cases, according to local lawyers who minutes to read over one hundred pages. met the Mission. These witnesses – Trials are in principle public, but the Defence submissions are often ignored, whose identity is concealed from the presence of observers is discouraged, the and courts refuse to call defence wit- lawyers – give testimonies remotely, Mission learnt. Journalists are arbitrarily nesses. Judges also reject petitions such with their voices changed. It often allowed or forbidden to take photos or as for non-custodial measures (house ar- happens that they give incorrect descrip- record by the judge. rest); in one case a judge turned down a tions and contradictory testimonies, and request to allow a suspect stay outside of repeat what is in the indictment. When In Rostov, the court proceedings are custody while awaiting trial even though such a witness fumbles or cannot answer held in a small room, meaning many he had a medical certificate attesting to the defence lawyer during cross-exam- relatives who travel long distances from his poor health. In another case, a judge ination, judges interrupt the hearing or Crimea cannot attend the trial. in an administrative court took 10 min- withdraw the question. The “cages” where suspects sit have been utes to decide on a 10-day detention. replaced with glass boxes, which lack Appraisals by “experts” play an essential ventilation. In Crimea, hearings for such Often, the judges and prosecutors do not role in reaching convictions in cases cases are also held in small rooms, even even listen to the defence: “They just sit regarding extremism and separatism. when larger rooms in the courthouse through the hearings; they already have This is not specific to Crimea: in the are free. Requests by lawyers to change all the documents and decisions. Often, Russian Federation, expert evaluations rooms are rejected.

22 Dmitry Dubrovsky, “Experts for hire: how independent analysts create crimes for Russian law enforcement”, 1 December 2017.

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women came to the meetings with their Appalling deten- children because they had no one to take tion conditions care of them (many of the fathers of the children are in prison). They all spoke of The Simferopol SIZO (pre-trial deten- the hardships and discrimination they tion centre) hosts appalling conditions endured. of detention, as confirmed by lawyers, relatives of political prisoners, and It is difficult for families to communi- persons who have been detained there. cate with their relatives in prison and The SIZO is overcrowded with up to obtain visits, and often the only way to eight people to a 3x3m cell. Detainees obtain information on their loved ones take turns to sleep, and are kept together is through their lawyers. The procedure with inmates who are sick. The cells are to request a visit is complicated; the in- full of bedbugs, cockroaches and mice. vestigator of the case must send a letter Detainees are denied access to medical to the SIZO, and families must come in treatment. When detainees are sick and person to the SIZO to enquire whether ask for medical help, they have to wait the authorisation has been granted. several days before they can see a doctor. No information is provided over the In the case of dental problems, a dentist phone, and requests with mistakes are from outside needs to be called in, and rejected with families having to re-start the administration has to make a request the whole procedure. For the families Far-fetched for the necessary equipment, but this is of people detained as part of the first conclusions by ‘experts’ not done. Almost all detainees have gas- “Bakhchisaray group”, they were not tric problems. The doctors do not give allowed to visit for the first 10 months, working for the FSB can all the necessary medical information and no explanations were given for the and as result the SIZO does not receive refusal. transform any harmless the appropriate medication. The Mis- sion heard of several cases of detainees Examination of cases are lengthy and conversation into a secret who died without any proper reaction drag on, and relatives feel the refusal to agreement among from the SIZO staff. The administration visit as a form of psychological pressure. often refuses to take parcels for detain- They have to travel long distances for extremists. ees containing medication. visits or to attend trials, particularly when these have been transferred to Cases of hangings have been also been Rostov. Women spend a long time on recorded at the SIZO. In April 2018, at the road to obtain permissions for visits least four people died unnaturally. The and to bring food parcels to the prison, official version of events concluded leaving little time to care for the family. suicide as the cause of death, but no independent investigation took place.23 Children in particular suffer from The Mission also heard about detainees the consequences of persecution and being transported in cruel and inhumane detention of their parents. The mission conditions, including transport in the heard that some children had not seen isolation compartments of prison vans, their fathers for more than a year, and which are extremely confined spaces.24 sometimes experience bullying in school During transfer, detainees have also linked to their parents. Also, they wit- been beaten or frightened with dogs. ness the searches and raids. After their house was searched, a boy for a long Families of political prisoners time reportedly asked his grandmother: face hardship “Are the bad people coming back?” Children who have experienced such The Mission met with the relatives of situations need psychological support. people who have been detained and As one of the mothers told the mission, imprisoned by the Russian authorities, “They will remember this all their lives”. including many wives, mothers and rel- Prior to their detention, the people atives of political prisoners. Some of the imprisoned had good jobs or ran

23 Crimea Human Rights Group, “4 people died unnaturally in April in Simferopol Detention Center”, 19 April 2018. 24 See decisions of the ECtHR in the cases Idalov v. Russia (Application no. 5826/03), 22 May 2012, and Kavalerov and others v. Russia (Application no. 55477/10 and 7 others), 4 May 2017. humanrightshouse.org 26 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

successful businesses, as noted by their relatives. They were doctors, lawyers and teachers. Now their families face economic hardship, especially as all of the detainees are on the “list of extremists and terrorists”. The Mission heard that it took a year for the wife of one of the prisoners to get a power of attorney to be able to rent out the dental practice that is in her husband’s name, which is the only source of income of the family. After Marlen Asanov was detained and charged, his cafe in Bakh- chisaray closed, leaving his family and employees without an income. Families also have difficulties accessing social services. The mission heard of a case in which child benefits were refused because the father’s authorisation was needed, even though he was in prison. In numerous cases, relatives have lost their jobs following the arrest of their family members, with the people making these decisions “not wanting to have prob- lems”. However, many people privately express their support to these families, Ilya Bolshedvorov, anti-corruption activist. Photo: Human Rights Information Center. and also help them materially.

Creating a climate of fear

Repression is growing

Repression is growing in Crimea and drawing increasingly broader circles. The Mission heard that not only are ac- tivists persecuted, but their families and anybody who assists or shows solidarity with them risks being subjected to police and judicial harassment and sanctions. While the main target of repression con- tinues to be Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians and people perceived as pro-Ukrainian and opposed to the annexation, it now reaches others. This includes people who either supported the annexation or do not openly oppose it, even Russians who moved to Crimea after 2014, and people who engage in activism on other issues Larysa Kytaiska, blogger from Yalta. Photo: Human Rights Information Center. or are active in Russian political parties and movements, including anarchists and communists.

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Targeting socially active citizens demonstration of strength, which allow people to share information, and which After the occupation, Valery Bolshakov, also demonstrate that many people are the former chair of the Sevastopol unsatisfied. Every time an assembly takes Workers’ Union, joined the Russian place, even when authorised, Bolshedvo- leftist party Russian United Labour Front rov is wary of administrative sanctions. (“ROT Front”) and publicly criticised the He notes that in Irkutsk it was easier to policies of the authorities and the law organise assemblies, and that in general enforcement. At the time of the Mission, the climate was freer. he was awaiting trial charged with ex- tremism and incitement (articles 280 and Bolshedvorov‘s civic initiative takes 282 of the Russian Federation Criminal actions against the confiscation of land. Code), and he had been put on the “list of Responding to his support of almost 30 extremists and terrorists”. families who were given symbolic com- In March 2017, the civic activists Dmitry pensation that does not relate to the value Kissiev and Alexei Yefremov called for of their property, the Head of the Repub- single-person and online protests in lic of Crimea Aksyonov filed a lawsuit for support of the anti-corruption rallies or- defamation – claiming 1.5 million rubles ganised by Alexei Navalny across Russia. moral compensation as Bolshedvorov They were detained and sentenced to publicly spoke about the involvement of administrative detention and fines for Aksyonov and his family in the illegal Crimea used to be a organising “unauthorised meetings” and land deals. Criminal charges were brought disobeying police. Since then, they have against Fazil Ibraimov, a Crimean Tatar politically active region, been harassed and attacked, and Kissiev who had led a process to legitimise action with its own mentality. was excluded from university. Ahead of taken by Crimean Tatars to reclaim land the March 2018 presidential elections, his that was seized from them during soviet Now it is as if everybody home was searched in connection with times.”. He received a suspended sentence 25 has inhaled some kind “provocations ahead of the elections”. for fraud. The Mission spoke to anti-corruption Ilya Bolshedvorov is not the only person of a gas – no one speaks, activist Ilya Bolchedvorov, who moved to who faces legal action for their activism there is silence here, like Crimea from Irkutsk (Russia) after the oc- against corruption. Dmitry Dzhigalov and cupation. Back in Irkutsk, he had helped Oleg Semyonov run the anti-corruption in a cemetery. people to recover illegal commissions bureau in Sudak, which looked into issues from banks. In Simferopol, he started related to illegal construction projects working as the legal advisor of a company and the management of a local waste site. that was renting a derelict cinema theatre Both were charged under article 282 (in- used as a covered market. citement) of the Russian Criminal Code, The theatre was supposed to be renovat- allegedly because Dzhigalov “insulted ed, but the lease was cancelled and the Bulgarians”. Dzhigalov was fined 320,000 traders were evicted. When the munici- rubles. pality unilaterally cancelled the lease and ordered the market to close, he supported As these cases show, judicial harassment the traders’ protest against the closure. is being directed against socially active He runs a civic initiative that supports citizens independent of their political victims of corrupt practices. Most of views. Many of the people who spoke to the requests he presented for holding a the Mission believe that this repression peaceful assembly were turned down or will not stop, but continue targeting new authorised to be held in locations of the groups of people. Anybody who takes the city where there are no people. Refusals slightest civic position on public matters were of a formal nature, for example that comes under the radar of the occupying the area of the location requested was too authorities. small. As Bolshedvorov told the Mission, the Also, several people told the Mission that real reason for such refusals is that the the dissatisfaction of Crimeans is grow- authorities know that public events are a ing, regardless of their position on the

25 Krym. Realii, «Крымский сторонник Навального Ефремов сообщил об обыске в квартире активиста Кисиева», 1 March 2018. (Available in Russian). humanrightshouse.org 28 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

Monument to the Novgorod-Kirillov regiment, which was stationed at the Genoese Fortress arrived in Sudak after the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. Photo: Tatsiana Reviaka occupation. Ordinary citizens are lost and propaganda and incite hatred, and report the UN Mission to Ukraine (HRMMU): disoriented. Some people who supported on events that did not happen – such as according to the Russian Federation the occupation feel that promises have claiming to have found weapons during court registry, 512 deportation orders not been kept, while people who moved raids, evidenced by pictures taken from were issued in 2017, of which at least to Crimea from Russia are also beginning other sources. People are frightened to 287 concerned Ukrainian citizens.26 to feel disappointed, as living conditions speak freely to journalists and are even People also face a form of hidden are different and it is easier to get into cautious in casual conversations, for fear discrimination and are being dismissed conflict with the law. of informants. In schools and government from work. These “purges” are taking People in Crimea do not have the same institutions, management is responsible place in, for example, schools, where social and economic rights compared to for identifying “extremists” – in schools, directors are put under pressure to dis- the Russian mainland, the Mission heard. the parents of “suspicious” children are miss “unreliable” teachers. The Mission In Crimea, the main Russian banks do called in “for talks”. heard that increasingly, when people call not operate, neither do the main mobile for a taxi, they ask for a “Slavic-looking” providers, with the exception of MTS. It Transfer of populations and driver. is harder for businesses, especially small deportations and medium-sized enterprises. Prices Among those who engage in activism, no have gone up, on foodstuffs and necessary Many interlocutors spoke of a covert one feels safe in Crimea. As one activist goods, and on real estate. Salaries in demographic change. Following the told the mission, for the past four years, Crimea remain low. Many feel like “sec- occupation, an important inflow of “the day starts with looking out of the ond class citizens”. military and civil servants and their window to see if they came for you; in “Crimea used to be a politically active families came from Russia. Russians the evening, when you leave work, you region, with its own mentality. Now it is are also increasingly moving to Crimea, wonder if you will make it home”. as if everybody has inhaled some kind of a attracted by incentives with regard to gas – no one speaks, there is silence here, housing and employment. Some see Anybody who is active attracts the atten- like in a cemetery”, one interlocutor told this as an additional reason to push the tion of the authorities – whether they the mission, speaking about the climate of local population to leave, thus freeing lived in Crimea before the occupation, uncertainty and fear. jobs and housing. Numerous construc- or moved to Crimea after that, and tion sites are under way in the cities, independent of their views and political Fear is being stoked by the authorities including of new housing complexes. ideas. and distrust encouraged, the Mission Deportations also continue to take heard. The controlled media disseminate place, according to data collected by

26 OHCHR, Report on the situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine), 10 September 2018, para 77.

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humanrightshouse.org 30 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

VOLODYMYR BALUKH

Five years in prison for flying the Ukrainian flag

Facing five years in prison and a fine reason for his persecution is her son’s school did not want problems. Many of 10,000 rubles, Volodymyr Balukh is views against the annexation, and his people who lived in the village have now a farmer from Serebryanka village in raising of the Ukrainian flag. moved to mainland Ukraine, including northern Crimea, where he lived with those who supported Volodymyr. “There his wife and mother. Making no secret While Balukh was in pre-trial detention, are still people in the village who sup- of his disapproval of the Russian occu- another case was brought against him port him, but they remain silent. They pation of Crimea, he kept the Ukrainian by the director of the pre-trial deten- have to – they have families and children flag flying on his house and did not seek tion centre in Razdolnoe. This was for and are afraid of consequences”, says his Russian citizenship. In the spring of “violence against a representative of the mother. “People looked away when there 2015, the police searched his house, al- state” (article 318 CC), requalified in were searches, nobody came.” After the legedly in connection with stolen spare December 2017 as “disruption of order first search of their house, the police parts for a tractor. in the pre-trial detention centre” (article also put pressure on their relatives and They returned in November, allegedly 321 CC), for which he was sentenced friends, conducting searches at their in connection with a stolen car. This to three years in prison. After spending houses. Since then, his wife’s godfather time, they beat him and he received one year in pre-trial detention, he was stopped communicating with her. 10 days administrative detention for placed under house arrest in December “refusing to obey a police order”. A 2017, but was again put in prison in Crimean Solidarity and Ukrainian criminal case was opened against him January 2018. Volodymyr appealed activists support the family and bring for “insulting a representative of the against these sentences. In March 2018, them foodstuffs. From Ukraine they get state” (art. 319 of the Russian Criminal the Supreme Court of Crimea upheld legal aid and help in transmitting parcels Code) for which he was subsequently the sentence in connection with the to the SIZO for Volodymyr. They are sentenced to 320 hours labour. He illegal possession of weapons. In protest, grateful for that. But both his wife and again hoisted the flag and placed a sign he started a hunger strike, until October his mother have lost hope that anything on his house that read “Вулиця Героїв 2018. will change for the better for their Небесної сотні” (Street of the Heaven- family. ly Hundred – a name given to people The interview with the Mission took killed during Euromaidan protests). place while Volodymyr was still on hun- His mother wants Volodymyr to leave Two weeks later the FSB searched his ger strike. His wife and mother found for mainland Ukraine when he is re- house, during which they claim they their requests for visits declined without leased: “There is no life for him here”, found military ammunition in the attic. explanation. They are only able to she says. But she plans to stay. He was arrested and charged with obtain information through the lawyer illegal possession of weapons (article who told them that his condition was 222.1 of the Russian Criminal Code) on worsening. Since his first incarceration, 8 December 2016 and put in pre-trial his mother has only seen him twice. They cannot arrest detention in the Simferopol SIZO. Their life has changed: “Volodymyr kept him for a flag, so they Both his wife and mother spoke of the the family and household going,” they fabricated charges. day the arrest took place: “They arrived said. Every time they hear a car pass at 6.30 am, 16 of them. They went up or dogs bark, they live in fear of a new NATALIYA BALUKH to the attic and found the ammunition search. They face hardships and isola- Mother of Volodymr Balukh, – 89 bullets. The attic is large. They tion. His wife Nataliya did not get the pictured on the left with mission found them in five minutes.” His mother, job at the school for which she applied; member Tatsiana Reviaka. Photo: Tatsi- Nataliya Balukh believes that the real she was made to understand that the ana Reviaka

31 humanrightshouse.org CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

EMIR-USEIN KUKU

Facing 20 years in Russian prison

Imprisoned and facing a sentence of up to receive a medical record of his injuries, to 20 years, Emir-Usein Kuku worked and went to the local police station to file for the Yalta municipality as an economic a complaint. The police refused to open a inspector and is a member of the local criminal investigation into his allegations. Crimean Tatar community. Following the occupation of Crimea he became a human In the next months, Emir-Usein was called rights defender. in several times for questioning, including by the Military Investigative Committee in In October 2014, Emir-Usein Kuku joined Yalta. His wife told the Mission that every the Crimean Human Rights Contact time he was late from work, she was very Group, a civic initiative that documents worried. They discussed leaving the pen- cases of disappearance, monitors investi- insula, but Emir-Usein insisted that he had gations into enforced disappearances and done nothing wrong and would not “run supports relatives of disappeared persons. away”. On 3 December, the Investigative In the beginning, On several occasions, he was contacted by Committee in Yalta called in Kuku and the FSB and invited to act as informant, informed him that he was under criminal young men were regu- but he refused to cooperate. investigation for posting extremist material on his social media accounts. larly disappearing. Then On 20 April 2015, FSB officers searched the arrests started. In a his home, following what looks like a On 11 February 2016, their house was foiled attempt to abduct him. As he was searched again. At 7 am, masked men way, we all expected this leaving for work, he noticed two men in with automatic rifles broke down the civilian clothes in a minibus parked near door. Emir-Usein was taken away and would happen. his house. As they approached him, he took has been in detention ever since. The next a shortcut and ran out onto the main road. day, he was accused of being a member MERYEM KUKU Тhey seized him, held his arms behind his of a Hizb-ut-Tahrir group and placed in Wife of Emir-Usein Kuku back and pushed him down face forward, pre-trial detention, at the same time as but by this time a large crowd had gathered three other Crimean Tatars - the “Yalta and witnessed the scene. He was then Group”. In April, two more members of forced into the van and taken to the FSB the local Crimean Tatar community were office in Yalta, and then back to his house. arrested for belonging to this so-called On the way, he was beaten and cursed group, which was allegedly planning to by his abductors for having “brought all overthrow the constitutional order. Kuku those people there”. According to his wife, was charged, together with the others, with Meryem Kuku, their property was full offences under article 205.5 (section 2) of of police vans with men with masks and the Russian Criminal Code (participating automatic rifles. Emir-Usein was brought in activities of a terrorist organisation) in handcuffed with abrasions and bruises which carries a sentence of up to 20 from the beating. During the search of the years in prison, and articles 35 (section house he was questioned by an unmasked 2), 30 (section 1), and 278 of the Russian FSB officer who threatened that if he did Criminal Code (preparing a violent seizure not cooperate, he would “go down for of power by an organised group in prior terrorism”. collusion), carrying a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. The next day, he posted photos of the marks from the beating, stating that if he After spending almost two years in the disappeared, they should look for him at Simferopol SIZO, they were transferred the Yalta FSB office. He went to a doctor to Rostov in the Russian Federation in humanrightshouse.org 32 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

December 2017. On 14 February 2018, they were charged with orchestrating or contributing to a terrorist group’s activi- ties, as well as with attempting a forcible seizure of power.

After his arrest, harassment of his family continued. In March 2016, an unknown man approached his son in front of his school and told him that his father had fallen into “bad company” and would go to prison. Shortly after, an inspector for minors contacted Meryem with a question about how the father allowed their son to be alone outside in front of the school. The school received a visit requesting in- formation on the children and the parents, and threats were made to deprive them of paternal authority. Meryem Kuku , wife of Emir-Usein Kuku. Photo: Human Rights Information Center.

During his detention in Simferopol, Emir- Usein was only allowed to see his family once, and numerous requests for visits were turned down. Now that Emir is in Rostov, it is much easier to get permissions for visits, and Meryem thinks that the conditions of detention are better there as well.

The trial is currently taking place at the North Caucasus District Military Court, but is dragging on; in August, the judge returned the case for further investigation because in his opinion there are two and not one “organisers” of the “Yalta Group” – which means that a second person in the group could be facing a longer sentence.

When violence following the taking con- trol of Crimea by the Russian Federation subsided, “we thought that the worst was over… so it seemed to us”, Meryem told the Mission. Ever since the arrest of her husband, and even now, she rushes to the Emir-Usein Kuku’s personal documents. Photo: Human Rights Information Center. window if there is noise in the street early in the morning. “They take away the best from among us”.

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ACCESS TO CRIMEA

The Mission’s travel the Crimean peninsula. This has given rise each crossing point, a neutral zone of 800 to a complex set of legal restrictions by the and 2,000 metres in length is established The members of the Mission accessed governments of both the Russian Federa- between the Ukrainian and Russian cross- Crimea through one of the three func- tion and Ukraine, which has complicated ing points.32 tioning crossing points. After obtaining a life for ordinary people. People travel across for a variety of reasons, supporting letter from the Ukrainian Min- including to visit relatives on both sides, to istry of Temporarily Occupied Territories According to Ukrainian legislation, go to study on the mainland or to obtain and internally displaced persons (IDPs) and Ukrainian citizens have the right to free Ukrainian documents, such as birth and having put together all the necessary docu- and unimpeded access to Crimea.28 How- death certificates and passports. ments, the foreign members of the Mission ever, over time, successive regulations have The suspension of public transport to submitted a request for a special entry been applied that regulate state border Crimea especially affects the most vul- permit to the State Migration Services in crossings, for example customs regulations nerable and economically disadvantaged Kyiv. They received their permits three for personal goods. 29 groups. Getting to the control points takes a days later. The procedures for foreigners long time and is expensive. to obtain authorisation to enter Crimea are Following the occupation of Crimea and The main difficulties people experience detailed in the “Order of Entry and Exit the establishment by the Russian Federa- at the control points are long queues and from and to Temporarily Occupied Territo- tion of a ‘border’ at the entrance to Crimea, the lack of infrastructure.33 In July 2018, ry of Ukraine”.27 as of 25 April 2014, Ukrainian authorities the Ukrainian authorities allocated more closed all crossing points of the state border than 105 million hryvna to improve the The Mission travelled by rail from Kyiv on the occupied territories and set up facilities at the crossing points Kalanchak to Novooleksiivka (Kherson oblast) and crossing points controlling entry and exit to and Chongar. 34 crossed into Crimea at Chongar. the territory.30 Since the beginning of 2015, This was the only crossing point open the Ukrainian side for reasons of national Access to Crimea for foreigners and state- on that day due to the Ukrainian border security has enforced border regulations less persons was regulated by decree No. guards service having closed the two other in several parts of Kherson oblast for entry 367 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine crossing points following an ecological into Crimea.31 on 4 June 2015.35 incident, which took place not far from the It contains a list of persons eligible to administrative border line in Armyansk, on Ukraine complicates access receive authorisations and conditions, Crimean territory. such as: having family and close relatives This allowed the members of the Mission Between March and December 2014, living in Crimea; in the case of death of a to experience first-hand all the steps needed Ukraine suspended public and direct trans- family member; or owning property on to reach the occupied territory of Crimea in port with the peninsula, including by sea the peninsula, supported by relevant docu- accordance with Ukrainian law. and air. Railway and bus transport operat- ments issued by the Ukrainian authorities. ing between the mainland and Crimea were Furthermore, the decree laid down that The Russian Federation has introduced a suspended in December 2014. Passenger foreigners must apply at the State Migra- “State border” on the territory of Ukraine trains for Crimea stop in Novooleksiivka tion Service of Ukraine and submit relevant to enter occupied Crimea, in violation and Kherson. documents in order to obtain a special of General Assembly resolution 68/262. Currently, three control points function to permit to enter Crimea for these purposes, This has adversely affected the freedom of cross into occupied Crimea: Chongar, Ka- as well as fulfilling the requirement that movement between the territories under lanchak and Chaplynka. All three may only foreigners can only enter Crimea through control of the government of Ukraine and be passed on foot or in private vehicles. At Ukraine and not through Russia. Foreign

27 Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution 4 June 2015, No. 367 “Order of Entry and Exit from and to Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine”. 28 Law No. 1207-VII “On the rights and freedoms of citizens on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine”, 15 April 2014. 29 Law of Ukraine “On the Creation of the “Crimea” Free Economic Zone and on Specifics of Economic Activity on the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine”. 30 Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Order of 30 April, No. 424-р ‘On Temporary closure of crossing points across the border and checkpoints”. 31 Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine resolution No. 38 of 30 January 2015, “On Certain Issues of Strengthening of Ukraine’s National Security Level”. 32 OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine thematic report, “Freedom of movement across the administrative boundary line with Crimea”, 21 June 2015. 33 Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, “Checkpoints on the border with Crimea are in need of modernization, say human rights defenders”, 23 February 2018. 34 Sergey Gromenko, “Домой без препятствий: какими будут пункты пропуска на админгранице с Крымом”, 10 June 2018. (Available in Russian). 35 Law No. 1207-VII “On the rights and freedoms of citizens on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine”, 15 April 2014. humanrightshouse.org 34 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

Entrance to Crimea. Photo taken at the Kalanchak-Armyansk border crossing point. Photo: Tatsiana Reviaka. citizens violating rules on access to Crimea five days to be processed and issued. These and members of the Mejlis. As reported by are prohibited from entering Ukraine for a bureaucratic procedures complicate the OHCHR, seven Crimean Tatar women, all period of three years, and the law foresees work and entail additional financial costs spouses of men under criminal prosecution administrative and criminal sanctions. and time, and can have a discouraging effect in Crimea, were detained and interrogated A subsequent amendment broadened the for foreign human rights defenders and for several hours when returning from the category of foreigners eligible to apply for journalists. Also, these procedures make mainland in November 2017.37 a permit and included foreign NGOs and it impossible to undertake emergency and international human rights missions and short-notice trips to Crimea to cover events Opponents and critics have been banned journalists.36 as they break or to monitor trials. from entering the Russian Federation and consequently are unable to access Crimea. While this has rendered it possible for Russian Federation controls This includes the leaders of the Mejlis: international human rights monitors to ac- access and creates considerable Mustafa Dzhemilev and Refat Chubarov, cess Crimea, the procedures to obtain such obstacles and Ismet Yuksel the director of the Crime- a permit are nevertheless complicated and an Tatar news agency QHA.38 lengthy. Permits for foreigners, members At the same time, the Russian Federation of international and foreign NGOs, and in- authorities, which practically control access Residents of Crimea who did not want to ternational human rights missions require to Crimea and apply their legislation, create or could not obtain Russian citizenship the prior consent of the Ministry of Tem- considerable obstacles to accessing Crimea. documents are considered “foreigners” porarily Occupied Territories and IDPs. They impose restrictions on entry and stay- and risk sanctions under article 18.8 of the For journalists, consent is needed from the ing on the peninsula, which contravenes Russian Federation Code of Administrative Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine. international law and violates the right to Offences (“violating entry regulations Applicants cannot apply for permits online freedom of movement. or right to remain”), including fines and or from abroad through Ukrainian consul- Frequently, people have been stopped and deportation. Between July 2014 and May ates, and must travel to Ukraine and submit subjected to lengthy interrogations and 2018, 9,538 sanctions were pronounced by requests to the State Migration Service in inspections of personal belongings when the courts in occupied Crimea and deporta- person, together with all documents and entering or leaving Crimea – particularly tions ordered. 39 forms in Ukrainian. Permits take up to Ukrainian activists, journalists, supporters

36 Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 722, 16 September 2015. 37 OHCHR, Report on the situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine), 10 September 2018, para 38. 38 The Peninsula of Fear: Chronicle of Occupation and Violation of Human Rights in Crimea, Olga Skrypnyk and Tetiana Pechonchyk eds, 2016, p. 88. 39 Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, “Crimea beyond rules: Forcible Expulsion of the Civilian Population from the Occupied Territory by Russia”, 2016, р. 27.

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INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK

On 27 March 2014, the UN General However, on 17 April 2014, the Govern- In addition, the Russian Federation must Assembly adopted resolution 68/262 on ment of Ukraine lodged a declaration ensure the availability of education in the the territorial integrity of Ukraine, which under article 12(3) of the Statute accepting Ukrainian language.” 45 affirmed its commitment to the sovereignty the International Criminal Court’s (ICC’s) and territorial integrity of Ukraine within jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed Ukraine has also lodged applications its internationally recognised borders. on its territory from 21 November 2013 related to Crimea to the European Court In its resolution 71/205 of 19 December to 22 February 2014, followed by a second of Human Rights (ECtHR) under article 33 2016, it qualified the situation in Crimea declaration under article 12(3) lodged on 8 of the European Convention on Human as an occupation, falling under the frame- September 2015, in relation to the period Rights, in 201446 and more recently in work of the Geneva Conventions of 12 from 20 February 2014 onwards. In 2016, August 2018, concerning the detention, August 1949, and called upon the Russian the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC prosecution, and conviction of Ukrainian Federation to uphold its obligations under found that the situation in the Autono- nationals on charges of membership in applicable international law as an occupy- mous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol organisations banned by Russian law, in- ing Power, reiterating this stand in its latest amounted to a state of occupation and that citement to hatred or violence, war crimes, resolution 72/190 of 19 December 2017. the law of international armed conflict espionage, and terrorism.47 Furthermore, would apply in its analysis.43 the ECtHR received a number of individual European regional organisations declared applications with regard to Crimea; just in that they would not recognise the referen- In January 2017, Ukraine filed an appli- the first months of the occupation, 20 cases dum and annexation of Crimea. The Venice cation instituting proceedings before the were submitted to the Court.48 In July 2015, Commission concluded that the referen- International Court of Justice against the the Russian Constitutional Court ruled that dum was illegitimate, in its Opinion of 21 Russian Federation for alleged violations Russia does not have to abide by ECtHR March 2014.40 The Parliamentary Assembly of the International Convention for the decisions if they contradict the Russian of the Council of Europe (PACE) suspended Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism constitution.49 the Russian Federation’s voting rights in and the International Convention on April 2014.41 Since then, both the European the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Since the occupation, the Russian Federa- Union (EU) and the Council of Europe have Discrimination (CERD).44 In its Order of 19 tion has been reviewed by the UN Human repeatedly condemned the occupation and April 2017, the Court considered that, with Rights Committee 50, the Committee on expressed concern about the human rights regard to CERD, “the Russian Federation the Elimination of Racial Discrimination situation in Crimea. In June 2018, PACE must refrain, pending the final decision in (CERD) 51, and the Committee against Tor- adopted a resolution calling on the Russian the case, from maintaining or imposing ture (CAT) 52. All three mechanisms have Federation to release without further delay limitations on the ability of the Crimean noted the “effective control” over Crimea, all Ukrainians detained in the Russian Tatar community to conserve its represen- asserted Russia’s protection obligations Federation and in Crimea on politically tative institutions, including the Mejlis. under the respective instruments, and made motivated or fabricated charges.42 recommendations to that effect with regard to Crimea. Ukraine is not a party to the Rome Statute.

40 Venice Commission opinion on “whether the decision taken by the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in Ukraine to organize a referendum on becoming a constitu- ent territory of the Russian Federation or restoring Crimea’s 1992 constitution is compatible with constitutional principles”, Doc CDL-AD(2014)002, decision No 762/2014 of 21 March 2014. 41 PACE Resolution 1990 (2014), “Reconsideration on substantive grounds of the previously ratified credentials of the Russian delegation”, adopted 10 April 2014. 42 PACE Resolution 2231 (2018), “Ukrainian citizens detained as political prisoners by the Russian Federation”, adopted 28 June 2018. 43 Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, preliminary examination of the situation in Ukraine. 44 International Court of Justice, Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation). 45 International Court of Justice, Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation), Provisional Measures, Order of 19 April 2017, I.C.J. Reports 2017, para. 102. 46 European Court of Human Rights, Application No 20958/14. 47 European Court of Human Rights, Application no 38334/18. 48 Registrar of the Court press release, ECHR 345 (2014), 26 November 2014. 49 Statement by the Russian Constitutional Court. 50 UN Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of the Russian Federation (CCPR/C/RUS/CO/7), March 2015. 51 UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding observations (CERD/C/RUS/CO/23-24), August 2017. 52 UN Committee against Torture, Concluding observations on the Russian Federation (CAT/C/RUS/CO/6), August 2018. humanrightshouse.org 36 CRIMEA: BREAKING THE WALL OF SILENCE

The level of political repressions unleashed in Crimea in 2014 has not decreased, though the forms and types of pressure and persecution have changed.

TATSIANA REVIAKA Mission member, Representative of the Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House

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HUMAN RIGHTS MISSION TO CRIMEA BY THREE HUMAN RIGHTS HOUSES

Aiming to break the wall The visit by the monitoring of silence and document Mission brought together first-hand the human rights experienced human rights situation in Crimea, repre- defenders from three Hu- sentatives of Human Rights man Rights Houses. It has Houses visited the occupied contributed to ensuring that Autonomous Republic of the facts on the ground are Crimea and the city of Sevas- known, and has helped to topol from 14-18 September give a voice to the Crimean 2018. people.

This was an opportunity for an international human rights mission to collect on- the-ground information and document the human rights situation on the peninsula.

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