Crimean Tatars and religious communities under pressure

Shortly before the regional elections in the Crimea on Sunday (September 14), the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has published a new 25-page memorandum on the human rights situation in the light of the Russian annexation, focusing on harassment against the Crimean Tatars and on the restrictions to the freedom of religion. "The pro-Russian authorities in the Crimea and the local intelligence agencies are increasing the pressure on everyone who could be considered as 'pro-Ukrainian' or 'anti-Russian'," stated Sarah Reinke, the STP's expert on Eastern Europe and author of the Memorandum, which was published today. "The intelligence agencies are intimidating the people with house searches, short-term arrests and interrogations – especially the Crimean Tatars, whose political leadership has called for a boycott of the elections, and several religious personalities of different churches."

The memorandum clearly shows that the human rights situation, and especially the situation of the minorities and religious communities in the Crimea, has deteriorated significantly during the past few months. "We can not simply leave the Crimean people on their own – and we cannot simply accept that the peninsula should be part of Russia," warns the STP. Many of the Crimean Tatars are alarmed. On the one hand, they are trying to keep up their everyday life. On the other, there is resistance against having to accept Russian citizenship. The collective trauma of the deportations under Stalin 70 years ago are too deep. The pro-Russian authorities respond with intimidation and attempts to divide the Crimean Tatars by criminalizing their representatives.

Thus, the chairman of the Mejlis, the self-representative body of the Crimean Tatars, Refat Chubarov, and the most important representative of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, are still under a travel ban. There are threats to close down the Mejlis completely, and new pro-Russian Crimean Tatar organizations are to be established. "This is the typical colonialist divide-and-rule policy, an immense threat to the minority groups," criticizes the STP. "Therefore, the German Federal Government must ostentatiously support the Crimean Tatars and meet up with their representatives."

The federal government should also advocate for Crimean people who are illegally being held in Russian captivity. Thus, the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov and Aleksandr Kolchenko, a left-wing civil rights activist, are still detained in a prison in Moscow after being arrested in mid-May 2014 – although they are Ukrainian citizens. They are facing charges up to 20 years in prison because they are accused of terrorism,. As they are Ukrainian citizens, the STP demands them to be brought to the Ukraine.

Memorandum about the regional elections in the Crimea (in German)

The memorandum (in German) can be downloaded here.

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Sarah Reinke, head of the Berlin office and STP's expert on Eastern Europe is available for further questions: +49 30 4280 4891 or berlin@gfbv.de.