"Destruction of the right to religious identity has become a key element of the occupiers' repressive policy in Crimea," - ZMINA

Yesterday, 16:15

The systematic suppression of freedoms and the destruction of the right to cultural, national and religious identity have become key elements of the occupiers' repressive policy. The number of registered religious communities on the peninsula has decreased from 2083 to 907, churches of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine are being confiscated or closed, the activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people are banned, and its members are subjected to constant pressure, arrests and political trials.

This was reported by the ZMINA Human Rights Center on December 10.

Since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, human rights activists have recorded 104 cases of enforced 'disappearances'. Out of this number, the fate of 21 people remains unknown - they are considered missing.

“Additionally, 55 cases of torture have been documented, including beatings, electric shocks, staged executions and other types of psychological terror,” the report says.

On August 30, an analyst of the human rights organization CrimeaSOS, Yevhen Yaroshenko, reported that during the ten years of Russia's annexation of Crimea, at least 65 people in Crimea became victims of enforced 'disappearances'. The fate and whereabouts of 21 of them remain unknown.

Among the missing persons were: Ivan Bondarets, Valerii Vashchuk, Vasyl Chernysh, Tymur Shaimardanov, Seiran Zinedinov, Eskender Ibraimov, Islam Dzhepparov, Dzhevdet Isliamov, Eskender Apseliamov, Fedir Kostenko, Mukhtar Arislanov, Ruslan Ganiev, Arlen Saliev, Server Aliev, Ismail Shemshedinov, Abliazov E.Y., Haidai L.S., Pavlenko T.M.

To date, there are 6 cases of abductees found dead in Crimea.

Tags: #Crimean Tatars #Religious persecution #Religious freedom in the occupied territories #Russian occupation of Crimea #Islam in Crimea