Most of those repressed in Crimea disagreed with the occupation

In Crimea, the persecutor acknowledged that those who did not support the 'referendum' of of 2014.

This was reported by the Voice of Crimea.

Most of the residents of the occupied Crimea who are persecuted for demonstrating Ukrainian identity are people who opposed the so-called "referendum on the status of Crimea" held by Russia in 2014. This was stated on the air of the occupation authorities-controlled Radio Crimea by the "adviser to the head of the Republic of Crimea Oleksandr Talipov, coordinator of the Crimean SMERSH initiative, which seeks to find and publicly stigmatize people with pro-Ukrainian or anti-war views.

According to Talipov, these people have been ''maintaining their ideology'' since 2014. He noted that some of them did not express their position publicly, but began to ''manifest themselves'' after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Talipov also acknowledged that among those who are being persecuted are people who received Russian passports after the occupation and enjoyed social benefits and privileges, but despite this remained supporters of the Ukrainian position.

Earlier, the court found the former prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea guilty in absentia of treason and sentenced him to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.

The investigation proved that in April 2014, immediately after the occupation of the peninsula began, the former Ukrainian prosecutor sided with the aggressor state. He accepted the offer of representatives of the occupation administration of the Russian Federation and took the position of the so-called "prosecutor". Since 2018, the convict has held senior positions in the illegally established "prosecutor's offices" of Crimea, organized the work of his subordinates and coordinated the activities of the occupation law enforcement agencies. The case was considered in absentia, as the accused is hiding in the temporarily occupied territory.

The special pre-trial investigation was carried out by investigators of the Territorial Department of the State Bureau of Investigation located in Lviv, with the operational support of the Security Service of Ukraine.

Катерина Глушко