On Thursday, January 27, a round table was held in the conference hall of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine on the topic: How to increase the presence of Crimea in the information space of Ukraine in 2022?. The event was attended by well-known public figures, human rights activists and journalists. Eskender Bariiev, Head of the Board of the CTRC, stressed that it is necessary to work so that the Ukrainian society does not adapt to the Russian Crimea or Russian Donbas in any case.
During the event, the speakers discussed the state of journalism in the occupied Crimea, the violation of the right to freedom of speech and opinion. In particular, Eskender Bariiev, Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, head of the Department for Legal Affairs and Foreign Affairs of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, noted that since the beginning of the occupation, professional journalists continued to work on the peninsula, but with increasing pressure, most free professional journalists were forced to leave for mainland Ukraine.
“As a result, civil journalism began to develop on the territory of the peninsula. Ordinary people, forced to live under temporary occupation, picked up mobile phones and turned on the camera to record numerous offenses against representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and pro-Ukrainian activists”,- he said.
According to Bariiev, now journalists, citizen journalists, bloggers and streamers are systematically persecuted by the Russian authorities in Crimea. Unfortunately, they are forcibly detained, illegally arrested and fined. Sometimes the occupants even use physical force against them and abuse Russian legislation against them, as was the case with Yesypenko.
Already 14 Crimean civilian journalists have paid for their position and are now in the dungeons of the FSB: Server Mustafayev, Timur Ibrahimov, Marlen Asanov, Seyran Saliiev, Remzi Bekirov, Ruslan Suleymanov, Osman Arifmemetov, Rustem Sheykhaliev, Amet Suleymanov, Nariman Dzhelyalov and Vladyslav Yesypenko.
Speaking about how to help journalists in Crimea, a member of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people recalled the campaign MP, help the prisoners of the Kremlin!, launched by the International Movement for the De-occupation of Crimea and solidarity with the Crimean Tatar people #LIBERATECRIMEA. As part of this initiative, Ukrainian parliamentarians, as well as MPs from other countries, can take patronage over Crimeans, in particular over journalists who have been arrested or persecuted by the Russian occupiers.
In addition, Bariiev also drew attention to technical assistance to Crimean civilian journalists. Journalists in Crimea need cameras, telephones, and possibly some kind of financial support, etc. to carry out their work. Training should be provided for ordinary activists who decide to cover events on the peninsula.
“In order to increase the presence of Crimea in the information space of Ukraine, it is important that top media outlets begin to cooperate with citizen journalists from Crimea. Ukrainian media can use the content of Crimean citizen journalists. We need to join forces and work hard so that Ukrainian society does not adapt to the Russian Crimea or Russian Donbas in any way”,- he added.