28 May 2024
WEEKLY UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN OCCUPIED CRIMEA ON MAY 28, 2024
Main news of the week
▶ Crimean Tatar activist Rustem Seitmemetov, who was illegally sentenced to 13 years in prison by the Russian occupiers on false charges in the “Crimean Muslim Case” because of his religious affiliation, underwent surgery after suffering a heart attack in Dymytrovhrad prison in the Ulianovska region of the Russian Federation due to the unacceptable conditions of his detention.
▶ The Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed the defeat of the occupiers’ ship Cyclone, mentioning that the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea has lost its last surface cruise missile carrier.
▶ On the night of May 24-25, 8 years have passed since the abduction of Ervin Ibrahimov, member of the executive committee of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars and the Bakhchisaray regional Mejlis, by unknown persons in the uniform of the Russian occupation road patrol service. All these years, the activist’s location has been unknown.
Crimes committed by the Russian Federation in occupied Crimea
▶ As of May 2024, Russia illegally detained 218 people on ethnic, religious, and political grounds, including 133 Crimean Tatars.
▶ Political prisoner Server Zekiriaiev, illegally sentenced by Russia to 13 years in prison, was denied a transfer closer to home from a penal colony in the Tula region, where he was illegally transferred 1500 km from Crimea. In addition, the man is constantly placed in a punishment cell and his family is denied visits. The last time he saw his family was in September 2023. Earlier, Zekiriaiev reported torture in the Russian colony.
▶ The occupiers have decided to transfer Viktor Stashevskyi, a representative of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious organization in Sevastopol, who was illegally sentenced to 6 years in prison on religious grounds, from a colony to a 3-year prison, where those convicted of particularly serious crimes, such as terrorism, hostage-taking, mass murder, etc. are to be held. In the colony, Stashevskyi is held in harsh conditions, he has been repeatedly imprisoned in a cell-type room. The “court” ruling on the transfer has not yet entered into force, and the political prisoner intends to appeal the illegal transfer.
▶ Russian border guards have indefinitely banned Yalta scientist Hurii Korniliev from entering Crimea. He has a 76-year-old mother who needs care on the occupied peninsula. Since 2014, Hurii Korniliev has lived with his mother in Crimea for all 10 years, and immediately after the occupation of the peninsula, he refused to receive a Russian passport in the letter. In April, the man traveled to Georgia for two weeks to resolve consular issues, and upon returning to Crimea, the Russians sent him to the so-called “filtration” where he was banned from entering his home in Crimea.
▶ Illegally sentenced to 19 years in prison, Crimean Arabic philologist Ismet Ibrahimov complains of stomach pains and the need for dental treatment. Ibrahimov informed his wife that due to the recalculation of the term of detention in the pre-trial detention center, he would spend most of his illegal imprisonment in a strict regime colony.
▶ A resident of Yalta was illegally and unreasonably found guilty of alleged espionage by the Russian occupiers. The occupation “court” declared him guilty and sentenced him to 16 years in a strict regime colony with a fine of 300 thousand rubles.
▶ Russian security forces sent illegally detained religious figures from occupied Dzhankoi Enver Khalillaiev, Arsen Kashka, and the imam of the mosque in the village of Lobanove Vakhid Mustafaiev for a forced judicial psychiatric examination in a Simferopol hospital. The lawyer called such actions of the occupiers “a way of putting pressure on those arrested in politically motivated criminal cases”.
Using the territory of the occupied Crimea as a military base and a springboard for attacks on Ukraine
▶ According to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on the night of May 22, Russian invaders attacked Ukrainian cities with 24 Shahed-131/136 attack UAVs, and on the night of May 26 with 31 attack UAVs, including from the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea.
Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion and spread its military actions throughout Ukraine, the 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.
The resistance movement of Ukrainian citizens in occupied Crimea
▶ Russia is persecuting at least 802 people in the occupied Crimea for expressing solidarity with Ukraine. People receive administrative penalties in the form of illegal fines and arrests.
▶ An 18-year-old student from the Kurmanskyi district of occupied Crimea supported the Armed Forces of Ukraine and opposed the Russian occupation forces in social networks under a nickname. The occupiers illegally detained the boy, sent materials to the occupation “court” and forced him to apologize on camera.
▶ A resident of the occupied Crimea supported Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Ukraine on social media and criticized the Russian occupiers. Russian security forces detained the woman, forced her to apologize on camera, and sent the materials to the occupation “court.”
▶ In the occupied city of Kerch, a resident supported Ukraine on a social network, published Ukrainian symbols, criticized Russia in the war against Ukraine, and condemned the actions of the occupation forces. The woman was arrested for 5 days and fined 30 thousand rubles.
▶ A resident of occupied Simferopol supported Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk from Crimea on social media and posted posts with the image of the Ukrainian flag. Russian security forces are currently pursuing the man to bring him to “justice.”
▶ Activists of the Yellow Ribbon movement continue to resist the occupiers in Crimea, destroying copies of propaganda materials and distributing patriotic symbols in the occupied cities on the peninsula, including Yalta, Yevpatoriia, Bahchysarai, Sevastopol and Simferopol. In addition, Yellow Ribbon activists honored the memory of the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people on the 80th anniversary of the deportation.
▶ Activists of the Crimean Combat Seagulls movement continue to expose the personal data of collaborators and Russian war criminals in the occupied Crimea. The activists also honored the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people.
▶ The Zla Mavka resistance movement continues to publish its diaries and a weekly newspaper that reveals the crimes of the occupiers. In addition, activists are actively burning propaganda materials of the occupiers in occupied Simferopol.
▶ Activists of the ATESH resistance movement in the east of occupied Dzhankoi discovered radar stations of the Russian occupiers near the deployment of Russian military personnel. In addition, activists have recorded the arrival of occupiers from the Leningrad Military District to occupied Dzhankoi, probably in response to heavy Russian losses near the Ukrainian bridgehead in Krynky. The ATESH resistance movement also recorded the arrival of Russian military equipment in Dzhankoi, including BMP-3 and a T-72 tank platoon. They also noticed the occupiers unloading railroad cars with ammunition. ATESH activists conducted reconnaissance of enemy electronic warfare systems in occupied Sevastopol, and this point is also the place of combat duty of the occupiers’ S-400 mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. The activists also recorded the deployment of additional air defense systems to the airfield in Dzhankoy after the Ukrainian Defense Forces successfully hit Russian military targets. ATESH also recorded the creation of mobile gas stations by the occupiers near the settlements of Sevastopol due to the successful work of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the invaders’ oil refinery. The activists systematically pass all information and coordinates to the relevant Ukrainian services.
The full-scale invasion was marked by a sharp increase in solidarity and resistance actions of the residents of the occupied Crimea against the Russian occupiers. Residents of the occupied territories unite in resistance movements, such as the aforementioned Yellow Ribbon, 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 the occupied Crimea and to disseminate information about human rights violations in the occupation.