75-Year-Old Ukrainian Man Detained in Crimea for Pro-Ukraine Posts

Russian Interior Ministry officers detained 75-year-old Yuriy Bozhenko, a native of Lviv, in occupied Armyansk. The man was accused of "suffering for Ukraine in social networks, waiting for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, insulting Russia and its armed forces."

According to Holos Kryma, the detention of Yuriy Bozhenko took place with the assistance of the Crimean Smerch initiative, which identifies residents of the TOT of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea with pro-Ukrainian and/or anti-war sentiments and passes them on to the occupation "law enforcement agencies".

"At the 'police station', Yuriy Bozhenko was forced to say on camera that he had posted calls in support of the Ukrainian army on social media 'because of his stupidity', but had already deleted them and no longer supported the Ukrainian army. The recording was posted on the Internet. A "protocol" was drawn up against the man, and the "case materials" were sent to the "court," the statement said.

According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, over the 11 years of the annexation of Crimea, 385 people have been victims of criminal prosecution for political reasons. As of today, 240 of them are in places of detention. Also, after the occupation of Crimea, the Russian Federation has been actively practicing religious persecution on the peninsula. Currently, 117 people are being persecuted in the so-called Hizb ut-Tahrir case. 114 of them are representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. 82 of them are serving their sentences in Russian prisons and colonies, while 28 are in pre-trial detention centers, 2 are under house arrest, and 5 have been released. The charges in these "cases," according to the CTRC, are based on the testimony of "hidden witnesses" and the conclusions of "experts" who actively cooperate with the Russian Federal Security Service.

The ZMINA Human Rights Center said that it has identified more than 260 officials who participated in the persecution of Ukrainian citizens in the temporarily occupied Crimea. Among them are investigators, prosecutors, and judges, most of whom are local collaborators or Russian citizens resettled on the peninsula. All the collected data was included in the so-called "Black List of Officials", which will serve as a basis for imposing international and national sanctions, as well as possible lawsuits for violations of international humanitarian law.

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