Russia's Persecution of Ukrainians in Occupied Crimea: 993 Cases Documented

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, human rights activists have recorded 993 administrative proceedings against Ukrainians in Crimea, including for posts in support of Ukraine.

As the press conference "Occupied Crimea: Whom and why did Russia persecute in 2024" , Iryna Sedova , a researcher at the Crimean Human Rights Group, said that these included large fines for posts on social media with the words "Crimea is Ukraine", for posts with Ukrainian symbols, for singing "Red Viburnum", for clothing with Ukrainian symbols, etc.

"After they (the occupiers - ed.) detained journalists on a large scale or made it impossible for journalists to leave and enter the territory of Crimea, they are now starting to hunt civilians. And this policy of persecution for views is becoming cruel," she noted.

According to the human rights activist, the occupation courts are using Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses as a tool, which states that anyone who discredits the Russian army must be punished. And since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, we have already documented 993 such proceedings. In addition, Sedova emphasized that the occupiers in Crimea have recognized the State Emblem of Ukraine, the trident, as an extremist symbol and punish citizens for demonstrating it, in particular on social media or in clothing.

"They (the occupiers - ed.) go even further, because they have recognized the trident as an extremist symbol in their court decisions, and people are imprisoned for 15 days for simply posting a trident on social media or wearing a T-shirt with a trident. Such cases are also recorded. In general, it is a strategic goal of the Russian Federation to persecute Ukrainians," she noted.

In total, since 2017, human rights activists have recorded 10,018 violations of fundamental human rights in the Russian-annexed Crimea, 6,730 of which were against members of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people.

According to the Presidential Mission in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, as of November 4, the occupiers have illegally imprisoned 218 people on the peninsula, 132 of whom were Crimean Tatars. Out of the total number, 43 are arrested (28 of them are Crimean Tatars), 151 are imprisoned (97 of them are Crimean Tatars), and 26 are without status (6 of them are Crimean Tatars).

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