russia imprisons over 180 Ukrainian citizens in occupied Crimea on trumped-up charges

It has been confirmed that both Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians are among the citizens imprisoned by russia on trumped-up charges.

Olha Skrypnyk, Head of the Crimean Human Rights Group, made this statement during an event at BrainHub, country’s main discussion platform at Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

“Today, according to the data of the Crimean Human Rights Group alone, more than 180 of our citizens are behind bars. These are (the cases – Ed.) that have been confirmed, verified, where we have evidence. There are both Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians among them,” she said.

According to her, Crimean Tatars in the occupied Crimea are persecuted under so-called terrorist charges. Ukrainian activists, participants of the Maidan protests, are usually accused of the so-called treason, sabotage, espionage or possession of weapons.

“These are the most common articles used against Ukrainians. Also, these cases are fabricated, there is no evidence. Very often, these cases are assigned the so-called status of secret cases, when lawyers are forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement, court sessions are held behind closed doors, and they actually try to hide all this,” she explained.

At the same time, Olha Skrypnyk added that in most of the cases fabricated by russia, particularly those regarding espionage, the Ukrainian citizens were subjected to torture.The russians quite literally beat out false confessions out of people. And often in this case, the occupiers used the method of making people confess on camera, common in the russian federation, in order to further spread it in their propaganda.

BrainHub is the country’s main discussion platform created by Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform. It brings together experts from the state and civil society sectors. BrainHub hosts intellectual discussions around the issues of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. It’s the birthplace of the best ideas that will become the foundation for the road map of Ukraine’s reconstruction in all sectors: economy, infrastructure, education, agriculture, security, digital, etc. 

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news