European politicians should contribute to the establishment of a mechanism for releasing and returning civilian hostages and political prisoners as well as support the strengthening of sanctions against those involved in the illegal imprisonment of Crimeans. This was stated in Brussels during the “10 Years of Resistance. Violation of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law in the Temporarily Occupied Crimea” event by Iryna Baran, CHRG International Advocacy Manager.
To remind: the “10 Years of Resistance. Violation of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law in the Temporarily Occupied Crimea” event was held in Brussels, on February 26, 2024, the Day of Resistance to Occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and City of Sevastopol. A few events and meetings were arranged by House of Human Rights CRIMEA member organizations to remind the international community and the Ukrainian society about the decade of the Russian occupation of Crimea and the decade of resistance.
“We saw many advertisements and announcements about events dedicated to the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine in Brussels. It is good that what is happening in our country is still in the focus of attention, but it is also very important to emphasize to the international community that the war began not two, but ten years ago. And those who have suffered from the aggression of the Russian Federation, in particular in Crimea, deserve publicity and our joint actions. Our today’s appeal of the Crimean Human Rights Group to the European politicians and human rights defenders comes to two major actions to be taken already: developing the mechanism for releasing and returning the civilian hostages and political prisoners as well as strengthening the sanctions, including new personal sanctions against those involved to the illegal imprisonment of Crimeans – prosecutors, judges, etc.,” Ms. Iryna Baran pointed out.
The International Advocacy Manager expressed hope that the next package of sanctions would also include the names of those involved in international crimes that were submitted by the CHRG and partners.
According to ZMINA NGO, Olha Kuryshko, Deputy Representative of the President of Ukraine in Crimea, noted that since 2014, Crimea had turned into a “playground” for the crimes to be later “copied, multiplied, and applied” in the newly occupied territories.
“These practices include human rights violations, abduction, torture, illegal detention, murder of activists and deportation of Ukrainian children,” Ms. Kuryshko said.
Vsevolod Chentsov, Ambassador of Ukraine to the European Union, emphasized that “this lesson must be learned” not only in order to “realize the truth about the occupation of Crimea”, but also in order to “understand how to deal with Russia”.
MEP Anna Fotyga, who is also the mentor of political prisoner Server Mustafayev, said that her vision for the entire period since 2014 included “a long list of our mistakes.”
“We must be consistent and principled in order to oppose such violations. With greater cooperation and decisive measures on the part of the international community, we would have avoided many of these atrocities,” Anna Fotyga stressed out.
Tetiana Zhukova, International Advocacy Manager of ZMINA Human Rights Center, spoke about the lack of freedom of speech and persecution of journalists. 88% of Crimean media were shut down during the first occupation year, and access to the Ukrainian mainland media was blocked.
“Independent journalists have become the target of intimidation by the occupying “authorities”. ZMINA recorded 162 cases of harassment of journalists and bloggers in 2022-2023. In addition, at least 15 Crimean journalists are currently in custody for political reasons – most of them were illegally convoyed to the territory of the Russian Federation, and they are kept in inhumane conditions and do not receive any medical care,” Ms. Zhukova noted. “For example, Nariman Dzhelial was convoyed to the Krasnoyarsk Area – more than 5,000 km from his home; Amet Suleymanov suffers a heart disease and needs urgent surgery; Iryna Danylovych lost hearing in her left ear in custody.”
“Every three days in the occupied Crimea people are abducted and accused of collaborating with Ukrainian intelligence or the army. Every day one Crimean is detained for posts on social networks, Ukrainian songs or manicure in the Ukrainian flag color. Every few hours, at least 140 civilian hostages and political prisoners are subjected to inhumane treatment in penitentiary institutions,” was stated by Ms. Sabina Ilyas from Crimea-SOS.
She highlighted that the Russian Federation kept on repressing the lawyers who defended the victims of the politically reasoned persecutions. For instance, on February 15, 2024, the occupiers detained lawyer Emil Kurbedinov.
Mariya Sulialina, a representative of the ALMENDA Center of Civil Education, raised the topic of indoctrination of children: “503,965 children live in Crimea, of which 285,963 are of school age. Since the first days of the occupation the entire education system has been transferred to Russian standards. If as of 2014, 100% of children studied Ukrainian in general secondary education institutions, then as of 2023-2024, only 1.2% of children study Ukrainian extracurricularly.”
Ms. Sulialina stressed that the curriculum denied the existence of an independent Ukraine, justified the legitimacy of Russia’s armed aggression, and created a hostile image of Western countries. In addition, the number of cadet classes has increased in Crimea: from 12 in 2016 to 191 as of the beginning of the 2023 academic year.
During the discussion, the topic of illegal appropriation of Ukraine’s cultural heritage objects, deliberate destruction of monuments and illegal archaeological excavations was also raised.
Daryna Pidhorna, Regional Center for Human Rights, said: “The Russian Federation has appropriated 12,612 monuments of national and local importance, the property of 773 libraries, 26 museums, 5 historical and cultural reserves, where 1,247,360 museum objects were stored. In addition, many monuments were destroyed due to the construction of infrastructure – for example, during the construction of the Tavrida Highway and the Kerch Bridge, more than 90 historical objects were demolished, and more than 1 million artifacts were moved away.”
The experts called the audience to act: to support political prisoners and their families as well as resistance initiatives and media from the occupied territories; to introduce sanctions; to create a mechanism for releasing the Ukrainian civilians from Russian confinement and captivity; to write letters to the free Crimea; to supply Ukraine with weapons for the de-occupation of territories, and to enforce compliance with human rights standards and international law.
