20 August 2024
WEEKLY UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN OCCUPIED CRIMEA ON AUGUST 20, 2024
Main news of the week
▶ In occupied Sevastopol, Russian occupiers sentenced an activist from Kherson, Iryna Horobtsova, to 10 years and six months in prison on falsified charges of alleged “espionage.” The woman was held in a Russian pre-trial detention center for more than two years.
Crimes committed by the Russian Federation
▶ As of August 20, 2024, Russia has illegally imprisoned 219 people in occupied Crimea on ethnic, religious, and political grounds, 133 of them Crimean Tatars.
▶ The occupation “court” refused to transfer Marlen Asanov, a civilian journalist from the “second Bakhchysarai group,” from the Correctional Colony No. 7 in the village of Sosnovka, Mordovia, which is more than 1700 kilometers from Crimea, to a colony closer to occupied Crimea, where his family lives. The occupiers continue to illegally detain Ukrainian citizens in Russia.
▶ Crimean political prisoner Zavur Abdulaiev, who was illegally sentenced to 12 years in prison by the occupiers, has not received a proper medical examination for three years. The man suffers from type II diabetes and hypertension. His eyesight is also deteriorating, and his teeth are crumbling due to the lack of proper nutrition and vitamin deficiency.
▶ The Russian occupiers are holding Crimean political prisoner Server Zekiriaiev in inhumane conditions in a Russian prison. The man has been unreasonably kept in a zone for “persistent offenders,” where ammonia and carbon dioxide emissions from the sewer system are released for several months. Due to the conditions of detention, the man’s health deteriorated: he vomited foam after eating, was constantly dizzy, and had almost no normal sleep.
▶ A public journalist and human rights activist, Iryna Danylovych, who was abducted by Russians in 2022 and later sentenced to 6 years and 11 months in prison, began suffocating due to lack of treatment in a Russian prison. A medical worker in a Russian colony arbitrarily canceled the medication prescribed to Iryna due to a severe ear disease. Due to the lack of medical care, the woman stopped hearing in one ear. Her health condition continues to deteriorate rapidly.
Use of occupied Crimea as a springboard for attacks on Ukraine
▶ According to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian occupiers carried out a series of massive attacks on the territory of Ukraine during the week, including 2 Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 23 Shahed attack UAVs, including from the territory of occupied Crimea.
▶ Activists of the ATESH resistance movement conducted a reconnaissance of the occupiers’ defense system in Kozacha Bay in occupied Sevastopol. They recorded the installation of many observation posts and the deployment of short-range anti-aircraft missile systems. In addition, the activists recorded the imitation of Russians transporting ammunition for multiple-launch rocket systems through the territory of occupied Crimea. The invaders are trying to create the appearance of a significant accumulation of combat vehicles and equipment by rolling them back and forth. The invaders also set up firing points on the seafront in Yevpatoria and planned to close the beaches to visitors.
Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion and spread its armed aggression throughout Ukraine, occupied Crimea has been used by Russia as a military base for spreading aggression in various forms. From the peninsula, the occupiers continue to strike at the territory of Ukraine, including civilian infrastructure.
Resistance movement of Ukrainian citizens in occupied Crimea
▶ Russia has already prosecuted 943 people in occupied Crimea for expressing solidarity with Ukraine, who are subjected to administrative penalties in the form of illegal fines and arrests.
▶ A 45-year-old resident of Partenit was speaking negatively about the actions of the occupying forces on a social network. Russian security forces detained him, coerced him to apologize on camera, drew up an administrative report, and sent the case file to the “court.” The man faces a fine of 30 to 50 thousand rubles.
▶ A resident of Crimea expressed waiting for the de-occupation of Crimea on social media and spoke out against Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Russian security forces detained the man, coerced him to apologize on camera, and sent the case to a “court.”
▶ Three residents of the Yevpatoriia region were listening to Ukrainian songs by the band Okean Elzy in the evening. Security forces detained the men, forced them to apologize on camera, and illegally placed them in a temporary detention isolator.
▶ Activists of the Yellow Ribbon movement continue to resist the occupiers in Crimea, spreading patriotic symbols in the occupied cities on the peninsula, particularly in Simferopol, Sevastopol, Alushta and Yalta, and the village of Semiiz. In addition, activists report increased propaganda for conscription to the ranks of the Russian occupying army due to the heavy losses of the Russian Armed Forces in the combat zone. The conscription of residents of the occupied territories is a violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Activists also placed the flag of Ukraine near the Solone Lake in Crimea as a reminder that Crimea is Ukraine.
▶ Activists of the Crimean Combat Seagulls continue to expose the personal data of collaborators and Russian war criminals in occupied Crimea and spread panic among them, as well as warn the civilian population about possible Russian provocations on the peninsula. In addition, the activists debunk Russian propaganda about the alleged downing of Ukrainian missiles that regularly strike Russian military targets in Crimea. The activists also report that the 1st Motorized Rifle Battalion of the 810th Marine Brigade of the Russian occupying army from Sevastopol was almost completely destroyed in the battles against Ukraine.
▶ The Zla Mavka resistance movement continues to fill the occupied territories with patriotic inscriptions and stickers, keep diaries, and distribute a weekly newspaper that reveals the occupiers’ crimes and informs about the realities of life in the occupied territories. The activists also reported that in occupied Simferopol, in Haharin Park, the occupiers created a “remembrance alley” dedicated to the dead Russian military who participated in the war against Ukraine.
A sharp increase in solidarity and resistance actions of the residents of occupied Crimea against the Russian occupiers marked the full-scale invasion. Residents of the occupied territories unite in resistance movements, such as the mentioned Yellow Ribbon movement, Crimean Combat Seagulls, Zla Mavka, and ATESH, or act individually. To suppress the resistance movement of residents in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea after February 24, 2022, the occupiers actively began to prosecute and bring to administrative responsibility Ukrainian citizens under the article on the so-called “discrediting the Russian army.”
We urge the international community not to ignore Russian crimes against Ukrainian citizens in occupied Crimea and to spread information about human rights violations in the occupation.