On Friday, May 8, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center presented an analysis of human rights violations in the occupied Crimea for the first quarter of 2020 in online regime. According to the organization, during the reporting period, Russian security forces conducted 15 searches, 25 detentions and 28 interrogations, interviews and “conversations”. The total number of arrests for the first three months of this year is 97, among them: 13 – new arrests, 84 – extensions of detention periods. 127 cases of violation of the right to a fair trial were recorded, 48 cases of violation of the right to physical integrity. Also 15 cases of transfer of political prisoners of Crimea were recorded. Most of the violations by the occupants are targeted against the representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. This practice has acquired a systemic character on the peninsula.
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The Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, member of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev and communications manager of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center Elvir Sahirman took part in the online conference.
According to the CTRC, in the first quarter of 2020, 15 searches were recorded in the occupied Crimea, 12 of them were carried out in the households of Crimean Tatars. This indicator is less than the number of searches for the first quarter of 2019. Back then the CTRC recorded 45 searches. However, the trend of political and religious persecution has remained unchanged since the occupation of the peninsula.
“In January, no new searches were registered. In February, security officials conducted one search in the so-called Jehovah’s Witnesses Case and two more in the households of two teenagers suspected of allegedly preparing terrorist attacks in Kerch educational institutions. The largest number of searches in the reporting period, as well as during the last year, was recorded in March. So, eight searches were related to the so-called Hizb ut-Tahrir case, one was allegedly related to the so-called Noman Çelebecihan voluntary battalion. Also in March, the invaders twice searched the hosing of the 67-year-old Crimean Tatar woman and the 26-year-old Crimean Tatar man. During these searches, security forces often violate the rights of victims. In particular, while entering the premises, private property was damaged, or a search was conducted in the absence of the owner, or the prohibited literature was planted”,- said Eskender Bariiev.
During the reporting period, the CTRC recorded 25 detentions, 14 of which were conducted in relation to the Crimean Tatars. In this category, we observe the same dynamics as during searches. The number has decreased in comparison with the 2019, but the arrests themselves have not stopped.
“A number of recorded detentions were carried out after searches. Crimean residents were detained on suspicion of their involvement in the Hizb ut-Tahrir and Jehovah's Witnesses organizations, banned in the Russian Federation, and allegedly participating in the so-called Noman Çelebecihan voluntary battalion, on suspicion of allegedly public calls for terrorist activities, as well as allegedly illegal acquisition, storage, transportation of explosives and ammunition. Regular cases of detentions on the administrative border with the occupied Crimea were also recorded”,- said the Head of the Board of the CTRC.
In the first quarter of this year, 28 interrogations, interviews and “conversations” were recorded in the occupied Crimea, 14 of which were related to Crimean Tatars. In comparison to the last year, over the same period, the number of such violations has decreased.
According to Bariiev, Crimeans detained after searches were subjected to interrogations and interviews – on suspicion of their involvement in the Hizb ut-Tahrir and Jehovah's Witnesses organizations, banned in the Russian Federation, and allegedly participating in the so-called Noman Çelebecihan voluntary battalion, on suspicion of allegedly public calls for terrorist activities, as well as allegedly illegal acquisition, storage, transportation of explosives and ammunition. A number of interrogations were conducted by Russian security forces on the administrative border with the occupied Crimea. Moreover, during the reporting period, repeated cases of interrogations of relatives of political prisoners, an imam of a mosque, etc. were registered.
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In the first quarter of 2020, 97 cases of arrests were recorded on the peninsula, 83 of which were conducted in relation to the indigenous people of Crimea. Of the 97 aforementioned cases 13 were new arrests and 84 were the extensions of previously imposed detention.
“In the first quarter of the last year, 97 cases of arrests were also recorded, but the number of arrests of Crimean Tatars increased from 67 to 83 in comparison to 2019. This indicates to a systemic suppression of the non-violent struggle of the Crimean Tatars and their protest against the occupation of Crimea”,- said Elvir Sahirman.
According to the CTRC, during this period, the so-called Dzhankoy District Court sentenced:
– Serghey Filatov to 6 years in a penal colony with a probation for 1 year for allegedly organizing and participating in the Jehovah's Witnesses cell.
By the decisions of the occupation courts the following individuals were illegally taken into custody:
– A inhabitant of Crimea (name unknown), who allegedly equipped caches with ammunition and explosives in the region on the instructions of the Ukrainian intelligence services.
– 55-year-old Nariman Mezhmedinov on suspicion of his involvement in the so-called Noman Çelebecihan voluntary battalion on the territory of the mainland Ukraine.
– Two teenagers from Kerch, suspected of preparing terrorist attacks in educational institutions of Kerch.
– Four Ukrainian fishermen detained in the Sea of Azov for the so-called illegal fishing.
– Amet Suleymanov, a defendant in the so-called third Bakhchisaray Hizb ut-Tahrir case (house arrest was imposed).
– Osman Seytumerov, Seytumer Seytumerov and Rustem Seitmemetov, the defendants in the so-called third Bakhchisaray Hizb ut-Tahrir case.
During the reporting period, the CTRC recorded 127 cases of violation of the right to a fair trial, 110 of which were targeted against the representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. This indicator is slightly different from last year's indicator, however, the number of violations of the right to a fair trial demonstrates the illegal activity of the so-called courts in the occupied territory, due to the illegal decisions of which more than 100 political prisoners of Crimea continue to be held in pre-trial detention centers and prisons.
“According to the experts of the CTRC, the indicators of violation of the right to a fair trial testify about the continuing discrimination of ethnic groups, indigenous people and pro-Ukrainian activists. The Russian Federation illegally uses its legislation for political purposes, particurarly, for the sole purpose of suppressing the non-violent struggle of the Crimean Tatars and their protest against the occupation of Crimea”,- said Elvir Sahirman.
Violations of the right to the physical integrity are also systemic, and in the first quarter of 2019, CTRC recorded 48 cases of such violations, 38 of which were related to the Crimean Tatars. This indicator exceeds the number of such violations in the first quarter of 2019. Moreover, the CTRC recorded 32 cases, 16 of which were targeted against the representatives of the indigenous people. The number of such violations more than doubled in relation to the Crimean Tatars.
According to the representatives of the CTRC, this trend characterizes the intentional policy of not providing proper healthcare to political prisoners of Crimea in places of detention, especially considering the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, cases of ignoring petitions of lawyers, claims of detainees and international organizations have been recorded. A number of political prisoners were subjected to forced psychiatric examination.
According to Elvir Sahirman, there is an outrageous indicative case of a young representative of the Crimean Tatar people – 17-year-old Server Rasylchak, who was tortured by the employees of the so-called Saky police of the occupied Crimea.
According to the organization, in the first quarter of 2020, 15 cases of illegal transfer of political prisoners of Crimea were recorded, 12 of which were related to the representatives of the indigenous people. During the reporting period, the following violations occurred: the defendants in the so-called Krasnogvardeyskoye Hizb ut-Tahrir case – Rustem Emiruseinov, Arsen Abkhairov, Eskender Abdulhaniev, the defendants in the so-called Simferopol Hizb ut-Tahrir case – Teymur Abdullaev, Uzeir Abdullaev, Ayder Saledinov, Rustem Ismailov and Emil Dzhemadenov, the defendants in the so-called case of Ukrainian saboteurs – Vladimir Dudka and Oleksiy Bessarabov, as well as Oleh Prykhodko. Some of the aforementioned political prisoners were subjected to illegal transfer twice.
The CTRC report also contains information on violation of religious rights, environmental standards on the peninsula, on inappropriate conditions of detention in pre-trial detention centers and prisons, on violation of the rights of political prisoners and illegal military exercises in the occupied Crimea.
Press Service of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center