Nine citizens journalists from Crimea unlawfully held in jails
At present, nine citizens journalists from the occupied Crimea are being held illegally in Russian prisons, and another one is under house arrest, as ZMINA human rights center reported with reference to Facebook page of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Activists are subjected to persecutions and are injailed for their civic stance and journalistic activities, and are charged with "terrorism", facing 20 years in jail or even more. Nine civilian journalists are currently being held illegally in Russian prisons, and one is under home arrest. These are Server Mustafayev, Timur Ibragimov, Marlen Asanov, Seyran Saliyev, Remzi Bekirov, Ruslan Suleymanov, Osman Arifmemetov, Rustem Sheikhaliyev, Amet Suleymanov. , - the Ministry’s report said.
The Foreign Ministry reminded that from the first days of the occupation, Russia began making pressure and launching reprisals against independent journalism in Crimea.
"Today, independent journalism on the peninsula is completely eradicated as a phenomenon," the statement said.
The Ministry noted that the phenomenon of civic journalism arose in these conditions. It became ususal, that some ordinary people who are civic-minded took on the role of mass media, filling the vacuum of independent and impartial news coverage on the occupied peninsula.
The Foreign Ministry also reminded that all 12 independent Crimean Tatar media outlets have been forced to quit the peninsula because of persecution, while only 232 out of 3,000 media outlets were able to undergo Russian "re-registration" after the occupation.
It will be recalled that according to Ukrainian human rights organizations, a total of at least 103 people are currently being held in prisons in Russia and the temporarily occupied Crimea. 76 from this list are Crimean Tatars. 48 political prisoners have already been sentenced in criminal cases.
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