Large-scale terrorist attacks in France, Great Britain, Syria, the United States and Ukraine show that terrorism remains a global problem. Thousands of people suffer and die as a result of terrorist activities. However, the victims of terrorist attacks are often forgotten, despite the fact that they need active support and assistance.
Since 2014, when the temporary occupation of Crimea began, the Russian Federation began an active fight against terrorism and extremism. But in fact, it is a tool for suppressing the non-violent resistance of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and pro-Ukrainian activists who opposed the occupation of their homeland.
For a position or opinion different from the official position of the de facto authorities in Crimea, people are accused of terrorism or extremism.
The most common tool in the fight against Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian activists who oppose the actions of the de facto authorities in Crimea is the initiation of criminal cases under Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Organization of the activities of a terrorist organization and participation in the activities of such an organization). Today, 84 people are being persecuted for their alleged participation in the organization Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Another tool for prosecuting dissent is Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Organization of the activities of an extremist organization), which is used against followers of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization. To date, 13 people are being prosecuted in these so-called cases.
In addition, repressions against the indigenous Crimean Tatar people are actively conducted on the peninsula, using Article 280.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Public calls for the implementation of actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation). The head of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and members of Mejlis are persecuted under this article. And the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people itself was recognized as an extremist organization and banned on April 26, 2016.
But despite such an active fight against terrorism and extremism, the number of victims of terror on the peninsula is growing. According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, over the entire period of the occupation, the number of the merdered reached 57, 30 of whom were the victims of terror (8 were Crimean Tatars).
One of the most tragic examples of a terrorist attack in the occupied Crimea was the Kerch terrorist attack on October 17, 2018, when a shooting and explosion occurred at the Kerch Polytechnic College. 21 people died, more than fifty were injured.
It should be noted that such cases were recorded only after the occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.
In connection with this situation, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center demands:
– to stop the practice of applying Russian criminal legislation in the occupied territory;
– refrain from criminalization and administrative prosecution of actions aimed at expressing one's own opinion;
– stop, under the guise of combating terrorism and extremism, the illegal persecution of representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and pro-Ukrainian activists;
– release all political prisoners persecuted on ethnic and religious grounds using Article 205.5, 280.1 and 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.