20 Crimean journalists held in Russian prisons, most of them Crimean Tatars
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center said at a press conference in Kyiv that 20 journalists from occupied Crimea are imprisoned in Russia over their professional work, 13 of them Crimean Tatars. Activists urge Ukraine to open talks on their release, saying many inmates are in critical health.
Twenty journalists from occupied Crimea are currently held in Russian prisons because of their professional work, and 13 of them belong to the Crimean Tatar people. This was announced at a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, an organization dealing with Crimean Tatar rights. Crimea is a Ukrainian peninsula that Russia occupied in 2014.
Who the prisoners are
Center board chairman Eskender Bariiev, who is also a member of the Mejlis, the representative body of the Crimean Tatar people, explained that these are mainly political prisoners. They include people who lived in Crimea or have a direct connection to it, and Ukrainian citizens who were detained there and convicted by occupation courts. The list also covers those detained outside Crimea and those convicted in the so-called Noman Çelebicihan Battalion case.
Call for negotiations
Human rights activists urged Ukraine to start negotiations to secure the journalists' release from Russian prisons. They said the health of many inmates is critical.
Participants stressed that releasing or exchanging journalists is especially hard to achieve. Lawyer Lyudmila Korotkikh of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center said Russia does not want to release or exchange three categories: journalists, Crimean Tatars and members of the Azov battalion. In her words, this is a real problem.
Valentyna Samar, editor-in-chief of the Center for Journalist Investigations, called on the negotiating team and international human rights organizations to pay attention to the need to protect Ukrainian journalists. Activists also pointed to the indifference of the Russian opposition toward Crimean Tatar political prisoners, especially journalists.
Restrictions on free speech
The event emphasized that after the occupation of Crimea in 2014, Russia began systematically restricting freedom of speech on the peninsula. Many independent media outlets and journalists were driven out of Crimea, persecuted or forced to stop working. Those who stayed continue to work under constant risk.
