Five Crimean Tatars Sentenced to a Total of 68 Years for Peacefully Expressing Their Faith Five Crimean Tatars have been sentenced to a total of 68 years in prison - sentences ranging from 12 to 17 years per person. The five men were arrested in October 2016 for involvement in the pan-Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tahrir. The organization is legal in most countries and is not associated with extremist acts or ideology; in addition, none of the men accused have a history of terrorism or extremism, and prior to Russia's invasion, there were no terrorist attacks in Crimea. Taking this into consideration, the men were essentially arrested and sentenced for peacefully expressing their faith, and is only another way that Russian authorities attempt to crush opposition groups in occupied Crimea.
The occupying authorities also have targeted Jehovah's Witnesses in Crimea although, to date, there has been only one recent known arrest.
Journalists Imprisoned By Russia Continue to Go Unnoticed Earlier this month, charges were dropped against investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, a decision which was met by triumph by Russian and Western journalists who had leapt to his defense. This may be one win, but there are countless other journalists imprisoned by Russian authorities, particularly in Crimea, where the occupying authorities have been set on eliminating independent media since the invasion
“You can’t bow down to the offender” – Memorial’s Gannushkina on PACE’s push to lift Russian sanctions Svetlana Gannushkina, a Russian human rights activist and member of the NGO Memorial, recently spoke to Euromaidan Press about the dangers of PACE lifting sanctions against Russia.
In response to the concern that lifting of sanctions could improve the fate of human rights in Russia, she remained adamant that "you can’t do this. You cannot bow down to the offender. Our common task is not to lift the sanctions, but to stop the violations."
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This newsletter is a part of the project “Combating human rights violations arising from the armed conflict in Ukraine by supporting journalist investigations, national advocacy, and an international information campaign” which is supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands to Ukraine. Euromaidan Press’ work is supported by the International Renaissance Foundation.
