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Statement in support of Crimean journalists

Ukrainian media united in their effort to condemn persecutions of Crimean Tatar civic journalists by signing a joint declaration.

On the opening day of the seventh Lviv Media Forum, on May 30, 2019, a civic journalist Lutfie Zudieva, and a wife of the Crimean political prisoner Mumine Saliyeva were arrested in the occupied Crimea. Lutfie Zudieva spoke at the forum in 2018. Both were later released, with fines imposed. Still, there are hundreds of political prisoners, including civic journalists, remaining in the occupied Crimea and Russia.

On 27 March 2019, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers raided houses of Crimean Tatars located in the city of Simferopol, Bilohirsky, and Krasnohvardiysky districts in the occupied Crimea. At least 23 Crimean Tatars were detained. They are being accused of organizing and participating in activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir religious organization, declared as a terrorist one by the Russian Federation. At the same time, it legally operates in Ukraine.

Among those detained in March 2019 were human rights defenders and civic journalists Remzi Bekirov, Osman Arifmemetov, and Rustem Sheikhaliev were arrested. For a long time, they have been covering raids, searches, trials, and other violations of human rights on social media in the conditions of an actual information blockade on the part of occupying authorities.

Rustem Sheikhaliev, a civic journalist of Crimean Solidarity, was arrested during a search in his house in the Kamyanka district of Simferopol. On May 24, the Rostov Regional Court ruled to leave Sheikhaliyev in detention.

Remzi Bekirov was arrested by the occupying authorities twice: in February 2017 he was detained for five days for the support of his friend and journalist Marlen Mustafayev, who was arrested in his home. In March-April 2017 he was detained for posts on social media made seven years before.

Osman Arifmemetov was also detained during the search of the house of Marlen Mustafayev – he took pictures of raids and searches conducted by the Russian special police unit OMON.

During the last arrest of Bekirov and Arifmemetov in Rostov-on-Don, they were beaten to the point of loss of consciousness. After which they were taken to a forest where tortures continued. They remain in the remand prison.

In light of the above, we call: 

  1. To immediately stop the persecution of civic journalists, including administrative arrests, charges of criminal nature, confiscation of property and other reprisals and extend to them all the guarantees that are provided to professional journalists;
  2. To exert pressure on the Russian Federation and the de facto authorities in Crimea to stop the persecution of civic journalists and make sure that they can perform the public watchdog function without interference in their freedom of expression;
  3. Ukrainian, independent Russian and international media to support civic journalists as colleagues in situations where they are victims of repression and persecution, express their public opinion regarding the unlawful arrest of civic journalists;
  4. To provide possible assistance in coverage of acts of systematic persecution of civic journalists;
  5. To provide civil monitoring by professional media, human rights defenders, and the consul of Ukraine of how the processes develop in the annexed Crimea and in Russia, where the detainees are taken; to provide the necessary protection in the remand prisons of those civic journalists who were victims of repression;
  6. To appeal to international organizations to inform of the fact of systematic persecution of independent media, and civic journalists in order to stop such persecution;
  7. To guarantee unhampered access to the public space, places of violations, to enable independent, and civic journalists in Crimea to carry out their professional activities;
  8. To ensure the necessary protection of those civic journalists who have become victims of repressions and support professional activities of civic journalists in Crimea.

Editors, individual media, and other organizations can join:

Declaration signed by:

NGO “Lviv Media Forum”

NGO “Hromadske Television”

School of Journalism, Ukrainian Catholic University

NGO “Crimean House”

NGO “Hromadske Radio”

NGO “Laboratory of Digital Security”

NGO “Media Development Fund”

NGO “Slidstvo.info”

NGO “Media Detector”

Bihus.Info

“Skhemy” (Schemes) program team, Radio Liberty

“Nashi Hroshi” (Our Money) program

Tetiana Lebedieva, media expert

Otar Dovzhenko, media expert

Kateryna Serhatskova, journalist

Danylo Mokryk, journalist

Khrystyna Berdynskykh, journalist