Religious organizations in Crimea fined almost RUR 1.5 million during the occupation - human rights activists

According to human rights activists, by the end of November 2020, more than a hundred administrative proceedings were recorded in Crimea against religious organizations and their members. These are mostly charges under such Articles of Russian legislation as "illegal missionary activities", "distribution of religious literature", and fines were also issued for "holding Friday prayers".

This is reported by Krym.Realii.

"In total, at the end of November, the CHRG recorded 104 administrative proceedings against religious organizations and their members in Crimea under Article 5.26 of the Administrative Code of Russia. As part of these proceedings, fines were issued in the amount of at least RUR 1,450,500," the human rights activists report.

The CHRG experts point out that such actions of the Crimean authorities constitute "a violation of both the Geneva Convention (IV) and the European Convention on Human Rights, namely Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion)."

Earlier, Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe, Borys Tarasyuk, said that Russia continues to persecute the Crimean Tatars, as well as oppress the Crimean Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Crimea.

US ambassador to the OSCE James Gilmore reported that Russia is persecuting almost all religious organizations in the annexed Crimea, except for the Russian Orthodox Church.

Since 2014, those imams who are not members of the Russian Spiritual Administration of Muslims in Crimea and Sevastopol have been persecuted in Crimea. In 2020 alone, there were at least three cases when Russian-controlled courts fined imams for "illegal missionary activity."

At the same time, the Russian occupation authorities claim that there is no religious persecution in Crimea.