In occupied Simferopol, five teenagers aged 17 to 21 were detained allegedly for “discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces.
According to the occupying “police”, teenagers ‘were drinking alcohol, behaving defiantly, showing Nazi gestures, and shouting slogans’ in the Gagarin Park, Simferopol.
To detain young people the “Ministry of Internal Affairs for Crimea”, the “Extremism Counteracting Center” and the “regional department of the FSB” came to the place.
Pro-Russian mass media posted a video from the park and a “confession” of one of the teenagers:
A number of administrative reports were drawn up on the young people: under Russian Federation Code of Administrative Offences (RF CoAO) Article 20.3.3 (Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation), Article 20.20 (Consumption (drinking) of alcoholic products in prohibited places) as well as Article 20.1 (petty hooliganism).
As the CHRG reported, since March 4, 2022, RF CoAO Article 20.3.3 (Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation) has come into force in the Russian Federation and in the territories occupied by it.
For the period of early March to July 20, 2022, the occupying authorities sent at least 73 administrative proceedings to the “courts” of Crimea for consideration under this article. The judgement on imposing a punishment was passed for 62 of them. The fines in total amounted to about RUR2,000,000.
The most common reason for persecution was posting ‘NO TO WAR’ statement on the social network or holding a single-man protest, having a poster with this statement. Proceedings often start with a dilation.
The persecution of residents of the occupied Crimea for their opinion about the war is a violation of freedom of expression, in the case of a single-person protest, this is also a violation of freedom of assembly. Enforcing the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses to persecute Crimeans violates international humanitarian law. In general, the persecution for protesting against the war demonstrates the essence of Russian politics, being so war-minded that even calling for peace is a crime.
To remind: as of 26 July 2022, at least 127 citizens of Ukraine were in the places of unfreedom under politically reasoned and/or religious criminal persecution.
