At least 18 Crimean journalists remain in russian custody

They are accused of terrorism or other fictitious crimes. So far, it has been possible to identify 98 officials of the occupation administration involved in the persecution of journalists – these are russian judges, prosecutors and representatives of the FSB.

Olga Skrypnyk, Head of the Board of the Crimean Human Rights Group, made this statement during the Second Black Sea Security Conference.

“Since 2015 russia has been using the legislation to continue its politically motivated criminal prosecution of journalists. Most often criminal cases against Crimean journalists were fabricated on charges of terrorism or possession of arms. Currently, at least 18 Crimean journalists are in custody. And russia deliberately refuses to provide them with medical care,” she said.

The Head of the Board of the Crimean Human Rights Group pointed out that after the occupation of Kherson region in 2022, the russian military abducted journalists from Kherson, took them to Crimea and accused them of cooperation with the Ukrainian military.

According to Olga Skrypnyk, after the occupation of Crimea, the number of media outlets on the peninsula decreased by 12 times. The media that remained on the occupied peninsula work only in the interests of the occupation administration.

“In violation of international humanitarian law, russia extended its legislation to Crimea, and media outlets were forced to obtain the russian license. In March 2015, the Ukrainian license for Crimean media expired, and only 232 media outlets were registered (in Crimea – Ed.). But according to the UN data, before the occupation of Crimea, at the beginning of 2014, about 3,000 media outlets were registered in Crimea. The Crimean media, of course, had the local budget and the budget from the russian federation. The main messages of these media outlets are to deny the fact of armed aggression and occupation of Crimea, also to encourage violence and conscription into the russian army, and hate speech against Ukrainians, journalists, human rights defenders and so on,” she said.

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