Lutfiie Zudiieva, a journalist of GRATY media outlet, human rights defender and activist from Crimea, was added to the Russian “Register of Foreign Agents”.
“Brand people with labels – “foreign agent”, “extremist”, “terrorist” – is a precise sign of our times, when laws are transformed into an instrument for political repressions. Nothing new, and, sad to say, not a surprise.
I keep on thinking that to fight in the cause of justice almost always means to swim upstream. This is not about accepting the imposed rules or somebody’s agenda. This is about a choice that one did once – and remains true to it”, the activist wrote.
The Register of Foreign Agents in Russia is a list of individuals, media outlets, and organizations that whose actions as, the Russian Federation considers, are affected by other countries. Once added to the register, such individuals and organizations have to indicate their status as “foreign agents” in all their publications and submit regular reports.
Among those added already to this register are Ukrainian journalists Iryna Romaliiska and Ivan Yakovyna, political scientist Taras Berezovets, and lawyer Mykola Polozov.
Lutfiie Zudiieva is a Crimean Solidarity activist and a journalist of GRATY media outlet. She covers court proceedings and human rights violations in the occupied Crimea. Until 2014, she had been a children’s center manager, but when the occupation started, she had to start defending human rights.
As reported by SUSPILNE media, Zudiieva was detained in 2019 for a social media post. At the time, the activist paid a fine of 2,000 rubles for allegedly publishing “extremist symbols.”
On July 27, 2023, Lutfiie Zudiieva was detained at the building of the “Supreme Court of Crimea” in Simferopol, where the appeal of political prisoners Nariman Dzhelialov and Asan and Aziz Akhtemovs was being heard. Later, the journalist was fined 12,000 rubles. On February 12, 2024, the Russian Court of Cassation accepted the appeal against this fine for consideration.
On the morning of February 22, Lutfiie Zudiieva’s home was searched by the occupation law enforcement officers. Once finished, the activist was taken to the “Center for Countering Extremism.” The Crimean Tatar woman was released three hours later, with two administrative reports filed against her for “abuse of mass media freedom” for posts on her personal Facebook page. In two of them, Zudiieva mentioned Radio Liberty without indication that the media had been classified as a “foreign agent” in Russia.
In March, the occupation-controlled Kievskiy District Court in Simferopol fined the human rights defender 2,500 rubles (about USD 32) under RF CoAO Article 13.15-2.1 for “abuse of mass media freedom.”
In May, a district officer of Dznakoi occupation police department issued a warning to Zudiieva about the inadmissibility of holding rallies.
In June, the “Kievskiy District Court” in Crimea considered an appeal against the decision of the magistrate and upheld the decision to hold the journalist administratively liable for “abuse of mass media freedom.”
