Amnesty International Ukraine has noted the continuation of the clampdown on human rights in Russian-occupied Crimea.
“The clampdown on the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly continued in Crimea. The authorities continued to predominantly target ethnic Crimean Tatars,” the human rights organization said in an annual report, which was made available to Interfax-Ukraine.
The organization also noted that the arbitrary ban on the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, a self-governing body representing the ethnic Crimean Tatars, continued.
Human rights activists pointed to frequent raids by security agencies on the homes of Crimean Tatars “purportedly looking for illegal weapons, drugs or ‘extremist’ literature.”
Amnesty International also noted that few lawyers willing to take up cases in defense of critical voices in Crimea faced harassment by the Russian authorities.
