On Thursday, March 11, the head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine Matilda Bogner presented a new Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, which covers the period from August 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021. The document analyzed the situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea and highlighted the following problems: freedom of religion or belief, forced displacement and deportation, and the rights of persons taken into custody.
The document paid attention to the growing pressure on the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the occupied Crimea. In general, compared to the pre-occupation period, the number of parishes decreased from 49 to only 5 in 2020, and the number of priests working on the peninsula from 22 to 4. It was also noted that certain representatives of Jehovah's Witnesses continue to face criminal charges, associated with extremism and prosecuted for practicing their faith.
“During 2020, the courts in Crimea issued orders for the deportation and forced transfer of at least 178 people who, according to Russian immigration law, are considered foreigners, including 105 Ukrainian citizens (93 men and 12 women)”,- the text said.
The ministry recalled that in accordance with international humanitarian law, the forced individual or mass transfer or deportation of protected persons from the occupied territory to the territory of the occupying state or to any other country, regardless of the motives, is prohibited.
Speaking about the rights of persons taken into custody, Bogner emphasized that many political prisoners complain about the conditions of detention in pre-trial detention centers and colonies. The head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine noted the situation with Teymur Abdullaev, who has been illegally detained in a punishment cell for almost a year.