9 years of obscurity: April 11th – the anniversary of Arsen Aliiev’s abduction 

For the ninth year in a row, the relatives of Crimean Tatar Arsen Aliiev have been living in obscurity. On April 11, 2016, contact with him was lost. Every year, human rights activists remind us of the facts of the possible involvement of russian state bodies in Arsen’s disappearance.  

Ukrainian law enforcement officers have opened a criminal case into the missing person’s disappearance under Part 1 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (intentional murder), but due to the lack of actual control over the territory of Crimea, they cannot conduct a full-fledged investigation. The occupation authorities of Crimea also opened a criminal case under Part 1 of Article 126 of the Criminal Code of the russian federation (abduction), but refused to conduct an effective investigation, so the fate of Arsen Aliiev still remains unknown. 

On the day of the abduction, April 11, 2016, Arsen left Bakhchysarai for the city of Saki for a funeral. At 12:00, he called his friends and asked them to meet him at the local bus station in twenty minutes. However, he never showed up at the appointed time. The phone was out of range, but then, just for a moment, it was back on. 

Video cameras from the bus station showed that Aliiev got off the bus and crossed to the opposite side. When Arsen was going around a car parked on the side of the road, two men got out of it, approached Arsen, put him in their car, and drove him towards the Yevpatoria highway. Local taxi drivers claimed that people in uniform had previously gotten out of that car. Read more about the enforced disappearance of Arsen Aliiev in the CrimeaSOS study. 

Enforced disappearances as a systemic practice 

The disappearance of Arsen Aliiev is not an isolated case, but part of the russian federation’s systematic practice, which has been observed in the territory of the occupied Crimea since the first months of the occupation. Enforced disappearances have become one of the tools used to intimidate overt or covert opponents of the occupation of Crimea. In this way, the occupying authorities are trying to suppress any resistance from the local population and establish complete control over them. 

Since the beginning of the russian occupation of Crimea, CrimeaSOS has recorded at least 66 cases of enforced disappearances. The fate of 21 people still remains unknown, 6 were found dead, 1 person was extradited abroad, 7 were charged with a crime, and 31 people were released within a few days.  

The real figure may be much higher, as not all cases reach the public sphere: due to fear of repression, many families do not report the disappearance of their loved ones. From the beginning of the occupation of the peninsula until February 28, 2024, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented 104 enforced disappearances (95 men and 9 women) of pro-Ukrainian activists, members of Crimean Tatar organizations, and journalists in Crimea.

Most often, civic activists, journalists, those who openly oppose the occupation, as well as their relatives, become the victims of enforced disappearances in Crimea. They are abducted in broad daylight, held in unknown locations without access to lawyers and relatives, and sometimes tortured or killed. The russian occupation authorities of Crimea not only fail to investigate cases of enforced disappearances, but also deny their involvement in them and often refuse to provide any information. 

According to the above-mentioned CrimeaSOS study, in all territorial communities where cases of enforced disappearances occurred, facts of torture of detained/abducted persons were recorded. In some cases, physical torture may not have been used against women or individuals who were being forced to collaborate. However, all individuals were subjected to psychological pressure, which in the context of detention/abduction also amounts to torture, aimed at obtaining information, obtaining consent to cooperate, or achieving other goals.

How does international law qualify enforced disappearances? 

Enforced disappearances are a serious violation of human rights. This is stated in the 1992 Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.  

As a crime against humanity, enforced disappearances are defined in the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in the event of a large-scale or systematic attack against any civilian population.  

In addition, if there are sufficient grounds to believe that the victims of enforced disappearances were killed, this act may qualify as another crime against humanity – murder, and/or as a war crime – wilful killing under the Rome Statute, as well as a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and as a war crime under the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I) of 1977.  

Despite the fact that russia is not a state party to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as the occupying power of Crimea, it is subject to the prohibition of enforced disappearances and has been subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC since February 20, 2014. 

In addition to international treaties, the prohibition of enforced disappearances is a norm of customary international law and is binding on all states in the world without exception. You can learn more about the legal qualification of enforced disappearances from the point of view of international law in the CrimeaSOS study “Enforced Disappearances in Crimea during the Period of Occupation by the russian federation in 2014-2020“. 

Remembering means fighting

Every year we remember the name of Arsen Aliiev, as well as other missing persons, not only to honour the memory or express condolences to the families. We talk about them to emphasize: enforced disappearances are not statistics, but crimes that must be investigated, and those responsible for their commission must be held liable. 

The issue of enforced disappearances in temporarily occupied Crimea should remain at the centre of attention of the international community. We call for constant monitoring of the situation, pressure on the russian federation to disclose information about the fate of the missing, and ensure a fair investigation of each case. 

Enforced disappearances are not just human tragedies, they are a targeted policy of terror that the russian authorities implement as a method of control and suppression of resistance. It creates an atmosphere of fear, where anyone who dares to take an open position, criticize, or show any disloyalty to the occupying power risks their freedom, and sometimes their life.