Human Rights Watch: Crimeans are losing their rights
The world-wide independent international human rights organization, Human Rights Watch, has released their report for 2017, which indicated that after the Russian Federation’s occupation of the Crimea, the human rights situation in the peninsula deteriorated, as stated by its representative in Ukraine, Tatyana Cooper, during the presentation of the report in Kyiv on Thursday, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
"Since Russia began taking control of the peninsula, the human rights situation there has deteriorated significantly," she said.
She noted that despite the fact that Human Rights Watch representatives were not able to visit the Crimea, they still monitor the human rights situation in the peninsula "very closely."
"We express our deep concern about the persecution of Crimean Tatars for their peaceful protest against the occupation of the Crimea," Cooper said.
According to her, the report notes that the Crimean Tatars are exposed to harassment and criminal prosecution for their actions by the occupation authorities when they oppose the occupation and speak about the violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity.
According to Cooper, the report also reflects some specific facts indicating the oppression of the Crimean Tatars in the peninsula.
It became known on January 12th that residents of the Crimea who were involved in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case are also accused to have taken part in "the forcible seizure of power in Russia."