Without protection: 24 Ukrainians in occupied Crimea are in prison without contact with their families

Politically motivated persecution of Ukrainians continues in the occupied Crimea. Currently, at least 24 people taken by the occupiers from southern Ukraine are in incommunicado status - without any contact with their families and without the possibility of obtaining legal protection. russia still does not officially recognize their detention.

This was stated by the chairman of the board of the Crimean Human Rights Group Olga Skrypnyk, reports UNN.

The persecution in Crimea has been going on for 11 years.

As for Crimea, the main trends are that the persecution is only intensifying. We see from our monitoring and documentation that a large proportion of people who are being persecuted are victims of false accusations related to so-called sabotage, espionage, treason, etc. This is one of the most common tools used in the occupied Crimea to persecute our citizens

She added that the trend of persecution of people in the south of Ukraine - in the so-called newly occupied territories, i.e., from 2022, this is part of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Unfortunately, Crimea has also become a prison for these people. First of all, we are talking about civilian detainees or civilian hostages... We have documented many people who have been transferred from the newly occupied territories to Crimea. For the most part, these are pre-trial detention centers that were opened specifically in 2022 to hold civilians from the newly occupied territories

So far, 66 civilians have been verified who were transported to Crimea from Kherson or Zaporizhzhia regions at one time or another.

Most often they were held in SIZO No. 2, some in SIZO No. 1 and SIZO No. 8, said the head of the Crimean Human Rights Group. She added that at least 24 people brought from southern Ukraine to Crimea remain in incommunicado status, meaning they have no contact with their families and cannot tell where they are.

Accordingly, they do not have any defense mechanisms, including a lawyer, and Russia has not yet officially recognized them. For example, some of them have been there for more than two years, and their relatives send requests to the Russian Federation and the FSB, but Russia does not recognize their detention.

In general, if we talk about Crimea, in 2024, according to our data, at least 250 of our citizens are behind bars because of politically motivated persecution. Some of them are held in Crimea, and some have been taken to Russia

According to her, people are most often held in pre-trial detention centers.

“Three pre-trial detention centers that we know are located in Simferopol - they are being held there during the investigation stage,” added the head of the Crimean Human Rights Group.

After the investigation, almost all of our citizens are transported to Russia, where they are subjected to so-called trials - fabricated and without any right to a fair trial.

If a person has already been investigated, he or she is usually held on the territory of the Russian Federation - either in a pre-trial detention center in Rostov or in colonies scattered throughout Russia. Moreover, these colonies are located in remote regions, and practice shows that Russia deliberately takes Crimeans as far away from Crimea as possible

Recall

In Simferopol, the Russian occupiers detained two employees of the Crimean Railroad, who were accused of collaborating with the Ukrainian Defense Forces.