CrimeaSOS: Sevastopol, Kerch and Simferopol became the centres of the greatest number of persecutions

The main trends indicating a systematic increase in pressure and criminalization of disloyalty in Crimea include concentration of persecution in militarily important centres. This was announced by CrimeaSOS project manager Mila Shevchenko at an event dedicated to Human Rights Day. 

“The greatest concentration of pressure, persecution and detentions is in large cities and important military centres such as Sevastopol, Kerch, Simferopol and Yalta, indicating a priority for the persecution of individuals who may have access to military information,” – CrimeaSOS representative noted. 

The trends also include increased repression against women, the active use of articles about treason, terrorism, and extremism as a tool of political repression, the increase in administrative prosecutions for “discrediting the russian army”, the systematic transfer of political prisoners and the use of torture and inhumane conditions as a tool of pressure. 

According to her, the occupation authorities in Crimea are actively using criminal law as a tool of political repression, turning the peninsula into a zone of maximum legal risk for any pro-Ukrainian citizens. 

The event “Human Rights Day. Crimea 2025: The Art of Resistance” was also attended by the Crimean Tatar artist and author of the “For Orphan” campaign, Permanent Representative of the President in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Olha Kuryshko, Crimean Tatar activist and former political prisoner Leniie Umerova, and relative of Bohdan Ziza Oleksandra Barkova. 

We previously reported that the occupying authorities of Crimea were violating at least 18 articles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – from the prohibition of assimilation and forced evictions to the destruction of cultural heritage, media censorship, and obstruction of the activities of representative bodies of the Crimean Tatars, in particular the Mejlis.