On Thursday, July 21, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center presented an analysis of human rights violations in the occupied Crimea for the first half of 2022. According to the organization, during the reporting period, Russian security forces conducted 15 searches, 79 detentions and 93 interrogations, interviews and conversations. The total number of arrests for 6 months of this year is 67. Most of the violations by the occupiers fall on representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. This practice has become systemic in the peninsula.
The press conference was attended by the Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, the head of the Department of Legal Affairs and Foreign Affairs of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev, the communications manager of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center Tetiana Podvorniak.
According to the CTRC, in the first half of 2022, Russian security forces conducted at least 15 searches in the occupied Crimea. 14 – in relation to the Crimean Tatars. For the same period in 2021, 32 searches were recorded, and in 2020 – 23.
“During the searches, the security forces often violate the rights of the victims. In particular, cases of damage to property were recorded during entry into houses, or a search was carried out in the absence of the owner, or forbidden literature was planted”,- said Eskender Bariiev.
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During the reporting period, 79 arrests-holds were recorded, 68 in relation to the Crimean Tatars. The number has significantly decreased compared to 2021, then 156 arrests were recorded, in 2020 – 48.
“Crimeans were detained in the so-called Hizb ut-Tahrir case, in the case of the Noman Çelebicihan Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion, under Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (Public actions aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation), under Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (Propaganda or public demonstration of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols), under Art. 20.2.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (Organization of mass simultaneous stay of citizens in public places), according to Art. 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (State treason), under Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Public calls for terrorist activities), under Art. 205 (preparation for a terrorist act), under Art. Criminal Code Article 282 (Demonstration of hatred or enmity), according to Art. 222.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of explosives or explosive devices), as well as mass detentions”,- said the Head of the Board of the CTRC.
In the first half of 2022, 93 cases of interrogations, interviews and conversations were recorded. 72 – in relation to the Crimean Tatars. In the first half of 2021, 41 interrogations were recorded, in 2020 – 52.
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Tetiana Podvorniak stressed that during the reporting period, there were 67 cases of arrests in the occupied Crimea, 55 of them against representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. Of the 66 cases: 25 were sentences, 20 were new arrests, 16 were administrative arrests, and 22 were extensions of detention. For the same period last year, 96 cases of arrest were recorded, and in 2020 – 150.
During the reporting period, 166 cases of violation of the right to a fair trial were recorded, 137 – in relation to the Crimean Tatars. In the first half of 2021, 205 cases of violation of this right were recorded, in 2020 – 231.
The communications manager added that violations of the right to the highest attainable level of physical and mental health are also systemic, and over 6 months, 19 cases of violation of the right to the highest attainable level of physical and mental health were recorded, 18 of which were against Crimean Tatars. For the same period last year, 92 such cases were recorded, for 2020 – 138.
According to the organization, in the first half of 2022, 18 cases of transfer were recorded, all of them in relation to the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. For the same period last year, 36 cases were recorded, for 2020 – 74 cases.
The report of the CTRC, which is available on the website of the organization, also contains information about the violation of religious rights, environmental norms on the peninsula, about inadequate conditions in pre-trial detention centers and prisons, about violation of the rights of political prisoners and illegal military exercises in the occupied Crimea.
In addition, based on the realities of the 21st century, the CTRC began to record violations of people's rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
So, during the period of a full-scale war in Ukraine, we recorded at least 226 cases of detention, 79 against representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, 9 arrests of representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, at least 25 searches in the homes of representatives of the Crimean Tatar people, as well as 24 cases of murder.
In the report, we drew attention to such cases as: interrogations and torture, illegal appointment of the occupying authorities, violation of the right to peaceful assembly and identified other offenses.