The Russian-installed court of Canköy district fined Graty journalist and human rights activist Lutfiye Zudiyeva 30 thousand Russian rubles (about 15 thousand hryvnias), finding her guilty of violating Russia’s “foreign agents” law, reports Graty.
The court claimed that Zudiyeva had had intentions to conduct “foreign agent activity” and had failed to notify the authorities about this to be entered in the register.
The journalist plans to appeal the ruling. The case was tried by Russian-appointed judge Elena Nikolaeva.
As per Graty, the administrative offense protocol alleging that Zudiyeva was involved in “foreign agent” activity despite not being in the register was drawn up on 27 August by the Crimean department of the Russian Ministry of Justice on the grounds of Part 1 of Art. 19.34 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
The Russian Ministry of Justice designated her journalism with Graty, as well as her work as a human rights activist (such as her columns and interviews with international media and human rights organizations about human rights violations committed by Russia in Crimea) as “political activity.”
On 15 September, the Russian-installed Canköy District Court reviewed the protocol. Even though the defendant was given the opportunity to provide an explanation, she was found guilty and fined 30,000 rubles (approximately 15,000 hryvnias).
In her speech at the hearing, Zudiyeva said that she viewed this case as a continuation of years of pressure on her due to her public activism and journalism in Crimea. She said that the Russian authorities aimed to silence those who report on human rights violations on the peninsula. However, she declared she was not going to stop her work in human rights.
“This is not just a matter of personal responsibility, it is a matter of my conscience as an individual. I cannot stand by and watch as, after numerous searches that occurr in Crimea constantly, children are left without parents, elderly parents without guardianship, and women without husbands,” she said.
The journalist added that these actions are usually accompanied by gross human rights violations by security officers and signs of abuse during investigations and trials.
“For example, [banned] literature is planted in people’s homes during searches, audio recordings are fabricated, and torture by electric shock is used to extract testimonies. I have already spoken with dozens of torture chamber survivors who had experienced such torture methods. And I am convinced that the opportunity to speak out about this is my right. So I believe that there is no administrative offense in my actions. I did not apply to the Ministry of Justice with a request to include me in the ‘foreign agents’ register because I do not need to be under someone’s influence to see these processes around me and talk about them,” Zudiyeva said.
Persecution of journalist Lutfiye Zudieva
In May 2025, the Russian Ministry of Justice added Zudiyeva to the “foreign agents” register. In a comment to IMI, Zudiyeva said that the news had not been unexpected. She explained that when someone works to defend the people in Crimea, speaking out and writing about the searches, the arrests, the actions of the Russian law enforcers and special services that exceed their authority and reveal an alternative picture of everything that is happening in Crimea, which does not align with the picture painted by Russian propaganda, then being included in such a list of outlawed, undesirable people becomes a matter of time.
In August 2025, Lutfiye Zudiyeva received a notice from the Russian Ministry of Justice summoning her for drawing up an administrative protocol. Zudiyeva was charged with violating the law on “foreign agents” (Part 1, Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).
In September 2025, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow upheld the decision by the Russian Ministry of Justice to declare journalist and human rights activist Lutfiye Zudiyeva a “foreign agent.”
On February 22, 2024, officers of Russia’s Center for Combating Extremism searched Lutfiye Zudieva’s house. After the search, she was taken away to the counter-extremism center, but later released.
The police opened an administrative case against her under Parts 2 and 2.1 of Art. 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (abuse of freedom of mass information). The investigation was triggered by her Facebook post about the unlawful persecution of alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir members, as she did not mention that Hizb ut-Tahrir is considered a terrorist organization by Russia, and also cited a Radio Liberty article without noting that the media outlet is considered a “foreign agent” by Russian law.
In March 2024, the Russia-controlled Kyiv District Court in Simferopol fined the human rights activist and journalist Lutfiye Zudieva 2,500 rubles (UAH 1,000). Roman Filatov of the Russian Counter-Extremism Center (CEC) charged her with “abuse of freedom of mass information.”
According to Zudieva, the judgement was issued without her participation and the court did not review the written objections of the defense. She believes that she is not an offender and as a natural person was not obliged to comply with the requirements, and that the head of the Crimean CEC department Ruslan Shambazov essentially treated her personal Facebook page as a registered media outlet.
In April 2024, a Russian court in Crimea fined the Crimean Tatar human rights activist and citizen journalist Lutfiye Zudieva, finding her guilty of “abusing the freedom of mass information.
On May 7, 2024 Crimean human rights activist, journalist Lutfiye Zudieva was handed a warning from the Russian Center for Combating Extremism.
In June 2024, he Russia-controlled Kyiv District Court of Simferopol considered the appeal against the verdict fining the human rights activist and journalist Lutfiye Zudieva and upheld the ruling to impose an administrative penalty on her.
