EU urges Russia to stop searches in Crimea and release detainees

“The Russian Federation must stop arbitrary searches in the private property of the Crimean Tatars and must ensure respect for the right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, freedom of belief and religion. These freedoms should be observed in Crimea without discrimination on any grounds,” Maja Kocijančič, Spokesperson for the EU’s Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said at a briefing in Brussels on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The spokesperson noted that the Russian authorities must immediately disclose the information about the persons, who were detained, the reasons for the detention and give those people an opportunity for comprehensive legal protection.

Kocijančič reminded that the EU declaration, which the EU High Representative announced on behalf of all the member states on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, underscored a significant deterioration of the human rights situation on the peninsula. The residents of the peninsula face systematic restrictions on fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of speech, religion and belief, freedom of peaceful assembly and association. The rights of the Crimean Tatars are violated in an especially flagrant manner. In particular, the Crimean Tatar media outlets were closed, the activity of the Mejlis as a representative body of the Crimean Tatars was banned, the leaders of the Mejlis and members of the Crimean Tatar community are persecuted.

The EU representative also reminded of the findings of the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which note that the Crimean Tatars continue to face disproportionate actions of the Russian police, they are being groundlessly accused of terrorism and extremism in a way and by procedures that directly violate human rights and freedoms.

As reported, on the morning of March 27, the officers of the Federal Security service of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and the National Guard of the Russian Federation conducted searches in at least 25 houses of Crimean Tatars in the annexed Crimea within the framework of criminal cases, which had been opened against several residents of Crimea suspected of participating in the activities of the Hizb ut-Tahrir religious organization banned in Russia.

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