After the occupation of Crimea, the Russian Federation, misusing its legislation for political purposes, launched mass repressions against Crimean Tatars and pro-Ukrainian activists on the peninsula. Detentions and arrests of people have become a regular practice.
The number of people deprived of liberty in politically-motivated cases continues to grow every year.
According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Centre, the number of political prisoners and persecuted people reached 334 during the entire period of occupation. 55 people have already been released, 34 of them are representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people.
It is important to emphasise that there are no former political prisoners. We must remember that these people paid for their civic position and were illegally persecuted by the occupation authorities of the peninsula.
We would like to remind you that the Crimean Tatar Resource Centre on its website has classified and developed clickable charts “Victims of the occupation of Crimea”, which constantly display the current number of political prisoners, missing and killed people during the occupation of Crimea.