The human-rights situation in Crimea has seriously deteriorated since the region’s annexation by Russia in March, the Council of Europe said in a report Monday, citing allegations of politically motivated killings and disappearances on the peninsula.
“Clearly, the problems are much more serious now,” said Nils Muiznieks, the council’s human-rights commissioner and one of the few international monitors to be allowed into Crimea since it was annexed from Ukraine.
Crimean Tatars —the region’s Muslim minority—as well as ethnic Ukrainians, pro-Kiev activists and journalists have been targets of intimidation and violence, often perpetrated by “self-defense forces,” known as Samooborona, which have been acting as an informal police force on the peninsula, the council said in its report.
The council has counted at least two killings of activists that appeared to be politically motivated and five disappearances, said Mr. Muiznieks. The council has also received “several dozen” reports of abductions, in which activists were removed from the Crimean peninsula and onto the Ukrainian mainland against their will, he said.
These incidents “send out shock waves of fear to the politically active part of the population,” Mr. Muiznieks said. The council was promised updates on authorities’ investigation of these incidents but hasn’t received them, he said.Read the rest of the story HERE.
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