On Tuesday, January 16, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center presented an analysis of human rights violations in occupied Crimea for 2023. According to the organization, during the reporting period, Russian security forces conducted 65 searches, 173 arrests/detentions and 186 interrogations, interviews and conversations. The total number of arrests for 2023 is 217. Most of the violations by the occupiers occur among representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. This practice has become systemic on the peninsula.
The press conference was attended by the Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, the head of the department for legal issues and foreign affairs of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Eskender Bariiev, and the communications manager of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center Tetiana Savchuk.
In 2023, 65 searches were recorded, 46 in the homes of Crimean Tatars. During the same period in 2022, 50 searches were recorded, and in 2021 – 53.
The searches were carried out in the houses of:
— In January, Ibraim Asanov, Ekrem Krosh, Aider Asanov, Refat Seidametov, Osman Abdurazakov, Leman Zekiriaiev, Khalil Mambetov .
— In February, twice in the house of Ilver Ametov, Dmytro Demchuk, Halyna Balaban, and in the house of the parents of Abdulaziz Dzhemiliov.
— In March, in the houses of Edem Murtazaiev, Memet Ashurov, Asan Abduramanov, Akhtem Ismailov, Lenur Urkumet, Lemmar Yunusov, Rolan Osmanov, Mustafa Mustafaiev, Shevket Erhashev.
— In April, in the houses of Fazil Emiruseinov, Abdureshyt Dzhepparov, Edem Ismailov and Bari Bariiev.
— In May, in the houses of seven citizens of Ukraine, Russia and Bulgaria in Crimea, who allegedly planned attempts against Aksenov, Konstantinov and Pavlenko, as well as in the house of Ridvan Rustemov.
— In June, in the houses of Jafer and Alim Aliustaev, Bekir Dervishev and Diliaver Musaiev.
— In August, in the houses of Asan Zekeriaiev, Ametkhan Umerov, Seidamet Mustafaiev, Ruslan Asanov, Abdulmedzhyt Seitumerov, Eldar Yakubov, Remzi Nimetulaiev and 9 Jehovah’s Witnesses.
— In September, in the house of a 54-year-old Crimean citizen, detained for participation in the Noman Çelebicihan Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion and in the houses of Andrii Babychenko, Amet Abdulhaniiev and Dzhelal Dzhyrykov.
— In October, in the house of the parents of 20-year-old Crimean Tatar Lutfiie Veliieva and the house of Amet Bairov -the father-in-law of political prisoner Riza Omerov was also searched.
— In November, the houses of Yusuf Ashyrov, Vilen Useinov and Zinur Appazov as well as the house of the Crimean Tatar, chairman of the Muslim religious community Alushta Abdul Hafarov were also searched.
— In December, imam Ismail Yurdamov’s and activist Rustem Mustafaiev’s houses were searched.
“In 2023, 173 arrests/detentions were recorded, 119 in relation to Crimean Tatars. A number of recorded arrests were made after searches. Residents of Crimea were detained on suspicion of involvement in the organizations banned in the Russian Federation Hizb ut-Tahrir, Jehovah’s Witnesses, for evading conscription into the armed forces of the Russian Federation, for justifying terrorism on social networks, promoting terrorism, for state treason, and mass arrests were also recorded near court buildings”,- noted Eskender Bariiev.
In 2023, 217 cases of arrests were recorded, of which 142 were against representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. During the same period in 2022, 193 arrests were recorded, and in 2021 – 210.
“Out of 217 cases, 42 are new arrests, 55 are sentences, 1 are death sentences, 73 are administrative arrests, 45 are extensions of detention”,- explained Tatyana Savchuk.
The speakers paid special attention to the fact that due to the failure to provide adequate medical care in Russian places of detention, two political prisoners died: Dzhemil Gafarov and Kostiantyn Shyrynh. A number of elderly political prisoners and political prisoners with chronic diseases are at risk, because huge sentences for them could be fatal.
The CTRC report, which is available on the organization’s website, also contains information about interrogations, violations of environmental standards on the peninsula, improper conditions of detention in pre-trial detention centers and prisons, violations of the rights of political prisoners, illegal military exercises in the occupied Crimea.
In addition, based on the realities of our time, the CTRC began to record human rights violations in the temporarily occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
So, as noted by Tetiana Savchuk, communications manager of the CTRC, in 2023 the CTRC recorded at least 45 cases of detention, 20 arrests of representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, at least 17 searches, as well as 478 cases of murder.
The report also drew attention to such cases as: torture and threats, illegal appointment of occupation authorities, deportation of children and propaganda, destruction of the ecosystem and highlighted other offenses.