CFM report, December 2014

Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights Brief Review of the Situation in Crimea (December 2014) Analytical Review TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 І. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 3 ІI. Problems of the residents of Crimea......................................................................................................................... 4 2.1. Civil and political rights ............................................................................................................................................ 4 Right to Life................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Right to Freedom and Personal Immunity ................................................................................................................ 4 Disappearance .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Arrest.......................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Freedom of Speech and Expression .......................................................................................................................... 6 Freedom of Peaceful Assembly .................................................................................................................................. 7 Freedom of Association ............................................................................................................................................... 9 Freedom of Conscience and Religion ...................................................................................................................... 10 Freedom of Movement............................................................................................................................................... 10 Right to a Fair Trial and Efficient Means of Legal Protection ............................................................................... 11 Kolchenko's lawsuit on the recognition of the right to citizenship of Ukraine ............................................... 11 Continued detention of Kolchenko, Chirniy, Sentsov ........................................................................................ 12 Case of CO "FOundation Crimea"......................................................................................................................... 13 Systemic issues ....................................................................................................................................................... 14 Crimean self-defense ................................................................................................................................................. 14 Court proceedings ...................................................................................................................................................... 17 Issues Related to Citizenship .................................................................................................................................... 18 2.2. Social and Economic Rights ................................................................................................................................... 19 Property Rights ........................................................................................................................................................... 19 1 The monitoring review is prepared with support from the “Democratization and Human Rights in Ukraine” project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme and financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

Registration of rights and legal relations ................................................................................................................ 20 2.3. Position of Vulnerable Groups. Manifestations of Xenophobia ......................................................................... 21 Ukrainians .................................................................................................................................................................... 21 Crimean Tatars ........................................................................................................................................................... 22 Internally displaced persons and refugees ............................................................................................................. 22 III. Problems of the Residents of Crimea who Had to Excape from the Peninsula and Move to Continental Ukraine (Internally Displaced Persons) ........................................................................................................................ 23 General situation ........................................................................................................................................................ 23 annexes ............................................................................................................................................................................ 25

2 The monitoring review is prepared with support from the “Democratization and Human Rights in Ukraine� project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme and financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

І. INTRODUCTION The present Monitoring Review has been prepared by the Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights and is based on the materials collected by the Mission during its work in Crimea, as well as in Russia and Ukraine in December 2014.

The Crimean Field Mission (“the CFM”) commenced its work on 5 March 2014.

The aims of the Mission are as follows: •

provision of information about the developments in Crimea;

•

mitigation of threats of all parties to the conflict;

• maintenance of proper legal guaranties in the region, strengthening and promotion of human rights standards and effective protection mechanisms through the monitoring of the situation and verification of incoming messages about different clashes; • provision of comprehensive assistance to the initiatives aimed at the protection of human rights of all participants of the conflict.

Emphasizing that human rights remain to be a direct and legitimate concern of the international civil society while implementing the abovementioned aims, the Mission shall: • perform monitoring of the general situation concerning compliance with the provisions of international humanitarian law and fundamental human rights in Crimea, issues of protection of human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, as well as public figures and ensuring their professional activities; •

pay special attention to the monitoring of inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations;

•

conduct monitoring of the activities of law enforcement agencies and state authorities;

• call on all parties of the confrontation to abide by the rules of international humanitarian law and obligations in the field of the protection of human rights, as well as call on international organizations and their members and participants to control the observance of such obligations.

The Mission unconditionally refuses to resort to violence or discrimination in its activities and is guided by the principles of political neutrality and adherence to law.

The conclusions of the paper have been made on the basis of the first-hand information (observation of the situation and developments in Crimea, interviewing the representatives of key target groups), mass media monitoring, analysis of the developments and legal basis, as well as on the basis of official statistic data.

The review is prepared monthly and includes the chapters on the situation with civil and political, socio-economic rights in Crimea, as well as deals with the issues of the status of vulnerable groups and manifestations of xenophobia in the peninsula.

In addition, the Review features the issues of the residents of Crimea who had to escape from the peninsula and move to Ukraine’s mainland (internally displaced persons).

The CFM is grateful to everyone who assisted with the preparation of the present Review.

The monitoring review was prepared with support from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland and the “Democratization and Human Rights in Ukraine” project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine and financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

The opinions, positions, and assessment contained in this Review do not necessarily represent the position of the United Nations Development Programme, other UN agencies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland.

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ІI. PROBLEMS OF THE RESIDENTS OF CRIMEA 2.1. CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS RIGHT TO LIFE The Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights has noted the inefficient actions of authorities in the investigation into the abduction and murder in Crimea, namely the killings of Reshat Ametov, abducted on March 3 and found dead on March 15, Stanislav Karachevsky, the Major of Ukrainian Navy, killed on April 6 in Crimea, the 16-year-old Mark Ivanyuk killed on April 20.

Reshat Ametov was arrested by unidentified men in camouflage uniforms on March 3 at the central square of Simferopol in front of the Council of Ministers of Crimea. On March 15, his body, with multiple markings of foul play, was found in the Zemlyanichnoe village of Belogorsky area. The cause of death was the two stab wounds in the frontal area and brow ridge. In early April 2014, the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Crimea opened a criminal case under Part 1 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code – ‘murder’. The investigating authorities of the Russian Federation continue to deny the access of the lawyer to the materials of the criminal case, the lawyer’s complaint against the investigator’s actions was not considered in the prescribed timeframe.

In addition, it should be noted that the criminal case on the abduction and murder of Reshat Ametov was combined with a number of other cases on killings and disappearances in Crimea for the period from March to September 2014, and is investigated by representatives of the General Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Kherson region.

Stanislav Karachevsky, the Major of the Ukrainian Navy, was killed on April 6 by the military of the Russian Federation. The murder took place in Crimea in the urban settlement Novofedorovka, in a dormitory where the Ukrainian military personnel of Saki base resided before leaving for the mainland Ukraine.

Mark Ivanyuk was killed on April 20 near the Olenevka village, where he lived. With regard to the killing, the local law enforcement authorities opened a criminal case on the grounds of an offense under Part 3 of Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, namely, the violation of traffic rules and operation of vehicles that entailed death. At the same time, in December 2014, it was discovered that the investigation into this case was suspended back in August 2014, which has not been reported to the relatives in a timely manner. It should also be noted that in the open media sources it was reported that in the death of a young man the local police may have been involved, and one of the reasons of a possible conflict was the fact that Mark spoke Ukrainian.

RIGHT TO FREEDOM AND PERSONAL IMMUNITY DISAPPEARANCE As of December 2014, the CFM had no information on the effective progress of the investigation into the disappearance of activists of the Ukrainian People’s House Timur Shaimardanov and Seyran Zinedinov, the missing Crimean Tatar Eskander Apselyamov and abducted Crimean Tatars Islyam Dzheparov and Dzhevdet Islyamov. There is no information about the whereabouts and condition of these people.

The Crimean Field Mission is verifying the information about the returning of Leonid Korzh home in December, who disappeared before the disappearing of Shaimardanov and Zinedinov.

The criminal investigation into the abduction of activists of the Ukrainian People’s House was combined with a number of other cases on killings and disappearances in Crimea for the period from March to September 2014, and is investigated by representatives of the General Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Kherson region. The CFM has established that among the abducted, according to the General Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, there is Potapov O.M. (initials in Ukrainian), which 4

was not previously noted in the CFM reviews. With regard to his abduction the Ukrainian law enforcement authorities opened a criminal case on 17 June 2014.

In view of this information the Crimean Field Mission is tracking the information concerning the disappearance and abduction of the following nine people: Ivan Bondarets, Vladislav Vashchuk, Vasiliy Chernysh, Timur Shaimardanov, Seyran Zinedinov, Islyam Dzheparov, Dzhevdet Islyamov, Eskender Apselyamov, Potapov O.M. With regard to the previously occurred cases, which were not reflected in previous CFM reviews, it was found out about the disappearance on September 18, 2014 of Vygivsky Valentin Petrovich, born 1983, a resident of Kiev. On September 17, 2014 he went by train to Simferopol. According to his father Peter Vygivskiy, he did not inform the family about the purpose of the trip, but warned that he would return on September 19. The contact with him was lost on September 18. Immediately after the disappearance of Valentin his father Peter began to search for information in Crimea in order to find out what happened. He found out that probably V.Vygivsky was captured by the ‘Crimean self-defense’ at the railway station in Simferopol upon arrival on September 18, 2014. At the railway station a group of people was arrested, after which they were “sorted out” and Valentin was presumably taken to the building of the former General Department of the State Security Service of the AR of Crimea in Simferopol, where he was handled with violence. A few days later, the representatives of the FSS of the Russian Federation allegedly convoyed Valentin to Moscow. Peter Vygivsky submitted an application to Simferopol law enforcement agencies about the disappearance of his son, but received no information from them after that. In early October 2014, the family found out that Valentin Vygivsky is in Lefortovo prison in Moscow on suspicion of committing a crime under Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal receipt and disclosure of information constituting commercial, tax and bank secrecy). A state-appointed lawyer told the Vygivsky family that the case is supervised by the FSS investigator Yuriev from the FSS Department of Moscow and Moscow region.

ARREST On December 5, a deputy chief of the department of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (PGOU), who was visiting his relatives in Crimea was detrained from the Simferopol-Kiev train. According to the press service of the PGOU, he was taken take to an undisclosed location and interrogated for 10 days in the Saki detention center by the FSS officers for involvement in organizing a terrorist attack on the staff of Prosecutor’s Office of Crimea. The media reported that during the interrogation a polygraph was used, and psychological pressure and physical violence were applied. The formal reason for detention was the protocol about an administrative offense with a further arrest for ten days. After 10 days, he was released and left the territory of Crimea.

In December, all 4 persons arrested under the ‘May 3’ case (meeting at the administrative border of Crimea of the Crimean Tatars leader Mustafa Dzhemilev), namely Musa Apkerimov, Rustam Abdurakhmanov, Tahir Smedlyaev, Eden Ebulisov were released on bail in connection with a change in their measure of restraint at the request of the Head of Crimea Sergey Aksenov.

Of particular note is the search of the home of Mustafa Yagyaev, the head of the local religious community, who was previously the head of the rural Majlis in Turgenevka village of Bakhchisarai district.

The search of the home and in parallel of the village mosque was conducted on December 18 at 11 am.

According to witnesses, the police officers took the mobile phones from the neighbors that were filming the events and deleted the records. In total, more than 20 police officers were involved. The grounds for the searches, according to Yagyaev, was the statement of several of his colleagues made in March and April that he allegedly expressed opinions inciting ethnic strife. To date, there was no information about other actions in relation to this statement despite the fact that earlier the Bakhchisarai mosque had been searched, and Mustafa Yagyaev was brought to responsibility for distributing the literature from the list of extremist materials (as CFM reported in previous reviews). Currently, the issue has been raised on opening a criminal case in relation to the expressed opinions.

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FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION In relation to the freedom of expression and the work of the media in Crimea, in December there were events leading to the restriction of rights, especially of the media.

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Thus, in December, the Resolution #222-1/14 of the Presidium of the State Council of Crimea of November 25, 2014 was applied. This Resolution approved2 the Rules for accreditation of journalists, media personnel and the news agencies in the State Council of the Republic of Crimea.

These Rules introduce a number of restrictions on the media coverage of the work of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea, which is a violation of the freedom of speech and the right to information. These significant restrictions include the need to coordinate with the press service of the State Council, not later than one day prior to the event, under a separate application, the work with the use of audio and video equipment, filming and photographing. In addition, the Rules prescribe the grounds for suspension or termination of accreditation certificates, which, inter alia, include the following: “Due to the unreliable and biased media coverage of the work of the State Council�. The decision on this issue shall be adopted by the Committee on Information Policy, Communications and Mass Media.

On December 3, the representatives of the Chernomorsk Broadcasting Company (CHBC) stated that bailiffs intentionally delay the return of the confiscated, under the court decision, equipment of the TV channel. The court decision to remove the attachment from all the seized CHBC equipment entered into force on November 18. However, the staff was able to return the television equipment only on December 22, notably, they carried it themselves. Also, the equipment of the Center for Investigative Journalism was returned, which was also seized. By the number of pieces of equipment, all the equipment was returned, but it was not possible to check its technical condition on the spot. Currently, the staff of CHBC are diagnosing the returned equipment, and for now it has been found that in many camcorders there are no batteries and memory cards, in the computers there are no hard drives and sound cards. Thus, the returned equipment cannot be used for its intended purpose, and its restoration requires considerable expenses.

On December 15, 2014, on the website of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (hereinafter Roscomnadzor) a message was published on holding in Moscow, on February 25, 2015, the tenders for the terrestrial broadcasting using specific radio frequencies in Crimea and Sevastopol. The radio frequencies, which are the subject of the tender, are currently used by the local Crimean radio stations. At the same time, none of the Crimean broadcasters have an opportunity to participate in the tender because of its terms and conditions. Thus, not all the broadcasters in Crimea registered as the media, moreover, none of the local radio stations has the required for the tender universal license for radio broadcasting or the license on radio broadcasting with the area of the radio channel coverage. The registration process, as well as obtaining of such licenses in fact take many months and deliberately make it impossible for local broadcasters to take part in the tender. As a result, Crimea could lose all the local radio stations.

1

http://www.crimea.gov.ru/act/12947

2

http://www.crimea.gov.ru/app/4201 6

FREEDOM OF PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY In December, the actions of authorities have been observed, aimed at limiting the freedom of peaceful assembly, which again concerned the freedom of expression of the Crimean Tatars.

Every year on December 10, at the Lenin Square in Simferopol, on the initiative of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people a meeting to mark the International Human Rights Day was held. The Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov, because of the prohibition of entry into the territory of the peninsula, for the first time had to spend this day outside Crimea. He reported that the Crimean authorities have banned public gatherings to mark the Human Rights Day. This information on the ban was confirmed by the Committee on the Rights of the Crimean Tatar people.

In order to clarify the details of this situation, the CFM presents a chronology of events.

On December 2, the Head of the Central Election Commission of Qurultay Zair Smedlyaev reported that Simferopol authorities do not give permission to hold, in the city center, the meeting of the Crimean Tatar meeting to mark the International Human Rights Day. According to him, the city council was looking for a vain pretext for the denial, refused to accept the application because of relocation of one of the departments.

According to Smedlyaev, the day before, the authorities easily allowed the ‘pro-government’ Tatars to hold a meeting in support of Putin’s policy.

On December 5, the Committee on the Rights of the Crimean Tatar people applied for holding an event dedicated to the celebration of the International Human Rights Day. On December 7, the Prosecutor’s Office of Crimea issued a warning for the deputy chairman of the Mejlis Ahtem Chiygoz about the inadmissibility of the unsanctioned meetings. Ahtem Chiygoz reported that the relevant document was handed to him on Saturday night at the border of Ukraine and Crimea, at the checkpoint Armiansk.

On December 9, the Simferopol administration denied the Committee on the Rights of the Crimean Tatar people the holding on December 10 of the meeting at the Lenin Square. This denial was substantiated by the administration by the activities related to the celebration of Christmas and New Year. The response was sent by the administration on December 8. The Committee received it only on December 9. The response also suggested to hold the meeting in the park named after Gagarin, with a reminder that the confirmation of the change of the date of the meeting should be submitted in writing not later than in three days prior to the event. Thus, in a letter dated December 8, the administration of the city of Simferopol represented by the Chief of Staff Alexandrova G.V. reminded the organizers that they had to write a letter on the coordination of the event not later than on December 6, i.e. the day before. The fact that the response of the city administration to the notification of the picket was written two days before the planned date, made it impossible to hold the event on December 10, as there was an artificially created situation of its unlawfulness under the Russian legislation currently applicable in Crimea. This could lead to the acts of violence on the part of security forces of Russia against the picketers, thus the organizers decided not to hold the picket.

In addition, the coordinator of the Committee on the Rights of the Crimean Tatar people Sinaver Kadyrov on December 8 received a warning from the Prosecutor’s Office of Simferopol about the inadmissibility of violation of the legislation. The Prosecutor’s Office reminded that the holding of public events without the consent of the administration of Simferopol is unlawful (Annex 1).

On the same day, the representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Simferopol, in one of the cafes, read out to other coordinators of the Committee on the Rights of the Crimean Tatar people a warning about the inadmissibility of violation of legislation of the Russian Federation (Annex 2).

The video depicting the Crimean Tatar activists being read out a warning was published by an activist, a former member of the Audit Committee of the Kurultai of Crimean Tatars, Kurtseit Abdullayev on his Facebook page.

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The Coordinator of the Committee, a member of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariev commented on this situation as follows: “Today’s sudden appearance in the cafe where we were of the representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Security Service confirmed the fact that our phones are tapped and we are being watched. These are the flimsy arguments against the holding of the International Human Rights and Freedoms Day. On December 10, in Simferopol at 11.30 am, at the 20, Chekhov St. the coordinators of the Committee on the Rights of the Crimean Tatar people held a press conference dedicated to the ban on holding by the Crimean Tatar activists of events to mark the Human Rights Day. During the press conference, a group of unknown persons of not less than ten people carried out a provocation by spraying green disinfectant onto the speakers. The actions have been planned in advance, the containers with green disinfectant was brought into the room by at least three people. According to the organizers of the press conference, the identity of one of the instigators was established (Annex 3).

On December 10, Rize Shevkiev, the Director of the CO “Foundation Crimea”, was handed by the Prosecutor’s Office in Simferopol district a warning on the “inadmissibility of violating the law on countering extremist activity and the legislation on meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets” (Annex 4).

In the warning, the Prosecutor’s Office of Crimea stated that it has the information that on December 10, on the initiative of a member of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar people, the Director of the CO “Foundation Crimea” R. Shevkiev it is planned to hold a meeting at the Lenin Square in Simferopol to mark the International Human Rights Day. The Prosecutor’s Office believed that in the course of the meeting it was planned to use anti-Russian rhetoric, namely, the calls for the people present to the unlawful actions aimed to disrupt the public order, provoking to the actions of an extremist nature. The Prosecutor’s Office did not provide the facts that would confirm such an opinion. In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office pointed out that such a meeting would be unlawful because it was not agreed upon with the authorities of Crimea. The Prosecutor’s Office pointed out that due to the fact that R. Shevkiev participated in the meeting on May 3, in the opinion of the Prosecutor’s Office R. Shevkiev may violate the norms of the Russian legislation. On this basis, the Prosecutor’s Office warned R. Shevkiev on the inadmissibility of violation of the provisions of Federal Law On Countering Extremist Activity and On meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets and on the responsibility for their violation.

On December 10, the Human Rights Day, the center of Simferopol was surrounded by the security forces.

According to the correspondent of Krym.Realii, supported by the observations of CFM monitors, the authorities blocked the central Lenin Square and one of the adjacent streets. In addition to fencing there was a cordon of riot police, internal troops and men in camouflage uniforms, which defined themselves as the ‘people’s militia’. The particularly large concentration of security forces was observed at the building of the Council of Ministers of Crimea. The entry and exit to the square were arranged through metal detectors. In the central streets of the city, at every intersection, there were traffic police patrols, in particular, the Sergeyev-Tsensky Street leading to the Lenin Square was completely blocked by the police. There was no access to the center from the neighboring streets. The representatives of the press were urged by the law enforcers to leave the Square, and the photographers to delete the footage.

It should be noted that the international legal standards in the field of human rights, as well as the legislation of the Russian Federation on the freedom of assembly prescribe the notification procedure for holding public events. The authorities have an obligation to facilitate such holding, and the possible approval procedures should be directed primarily at ensuring the safety of the participants and organizers of public events, and not on creation of obstacles for their holding.

The conciliation, any proposals to change the time and place of the meetings cannot make the notification procedure the de facto permitting procedure, and create insurmountable obstacles to the holding of public events, including in the central streets, in the area of direct visibility and audibility of their target audience.

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FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION The exercise of the freedom of association does not depend on the legal status of the assembly of people.

The international legal standards enshrine the freedom of activity of unregistered associations. At the same time, the registration should be available for those willing to establish a legal entity for the association, to conduct financial business etc.

The applied in Crimea procedure of registration of public associations for many organizations became a significant limitation and a matter of concern and complaints. Back in October, the Commissioner for Human Rights in Crimea Ludmila Lubina, in the program New Crimea on the Crimean channel TV FM said that the non-governmental organizations in Crimea find it very difficult to register and re-register. “This, firstly, relates to the legislation of Russia, the problems with the issuance of documents, it may be the lack of organization of the registration process for the non-profit NGOs",- she said.

With respect to CO ‘Foundation Crimea’, such re-registration has become a formal reason for the refusal to register the Fund as a non-profit organization. The reason for refusal was the formal grounds, for example, the use of two names in different documents, namely ‘charitable organisation’ and ‘charitable NGO’.

The Department of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in Crimea considered it ‘the provision of false information on the legal entity’. Another reason for the refusal was the lack of indication in the title of the territorial scope of the NGO. These and other formal reasons for refusal are listed in the refusal of the Department of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in Crimea of December 18 (Annex 5).

The Crimean organizations have reported a number of other issues. Local NGOs are required to apply for registration only in Simferopol - at the main department of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, the registration of organizations is not carried out at the organisations’ location. This has led to long queues in the department, because the department can receive not more than 10 people daily. The representatives of certain categories (pensioners, veterans, mothers with children, people with special needs and others) cannot wait in such queues and submit the documents.

The lack of information provided to the people in Crimea on the forms of documents and requirements thereto constantly leads to the fact that organizations are denied registration. Thus, in the reception of the main department of the Ministry of Justice of Russia in Simferopol and on the official website there are sample documents available for only one of the forms of NGO – the non-governmental organization. For other forms of association – the ‘foundation’, ‘autonomous non-profit organization’, ‘union’, ‘association’ etc.

– the sample documents are lacking. The information activities on the registration of NGOs are held only in Simferopol, and the city administrations do not inform the residents about them.

The denial of registration leads to the fact that the process of registration of NGOs is delayed for several months and requires significant financial expenses, because the documents have to be constantly renewed by the notaries and fees to be paid.

Several Crimean organizations prepared a complaint to the Russian President Vladimir Putin indicating the obstacles that arise during the registration of NGOs in Crimea.

On December 17, the Head of the State Council of Crimea Sergey Aksenov submitted a draft law3 On the state support for socially oriented non-profit organizations in the Republic of Crimea. According to the draft law, the Council of Ministers of Crimea shall be vested with a wide range of powers related to control and supervision over the activities of such organizations. Such organizations shall be provided with the financial and property support from the budget of Crimea. The draft law envisages the establishment of the registry of the socially oriented non-profit organizations that receive support from the Council of Ministers of Crimea.

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http://www.crimea.gov.ru/draft/4391 9

The consideration of the appeal of the Director of the ‘Foundation Crimea’ Riza Shevkiev was scheduled for December 19. However, the Director of the foundation was not notified about it. R. Shevkiev managed to come to the meeting and submit the appropriate petitions, which resulted in the fact that the consideration of the application was deferred to the end of January 2015.

FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND RELIGION There are continued difficulties related to the re-registration of religious organizations.

Thus, on December 6, the Head of the Department on Religious Affairs and National Cultural Societies of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea Alexander Selevko reported that the statutes of religious organizations which are not the members of the centralized structures should undergo an examination in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. He explained that the centralized religious structures include, for example, the Simferopol and Crimea diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Crimea. The organizations that are not the members of these structures shall be subject to a theological examination in Moscow. In case of revelation of violations, the registration will be denied. According to A. Selevko, this will help to reveal the destructive organizations. In Crimea, such examination will not be carried out, as the authorities consider that in Crimea there are no specialized professionals.

These actions of the authorities can lead to a significant restriction of the freedom of religion. The examination itself already constitutes an interference with the freedom of religion. In addition, the objectivity of such examination gives rise to large doubts, especially with regard to religious communities, which, for example, openly opposed the actions of the Russian Federation in Crimea.

In addition to difficulties with registration, in the period under review, a separate concern in the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Crimea was raised by the fact that in the Kirov district of Crimea, where the medieval Muslim burial was discovered during the laying of water pipeline, the construction work is ongoing.

The Spiritual Administration of Muslims appealed to the Crimean authorities to take action to stop the destruction of the ancient cemetery.

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT With regard to the freedom of movement, there are systemic issues associated with the newly established border.

There are complaints from the different categories of citizens traveling from the peninsula to the mainland Ukraine and facing the following restrictions: 1) the de facto impossibility of departure from the territory of Crimea for the following categories: • the citizens of Ukraine that reside in Crimea and have no opportunity to paste the pictures into the Ukrainian passport upon reaching 25 and 45 years of age; • the children of 14 - 16 years of age that are unable to obtain a passport of a citizen of Ukraine until the age of 16 (according to Ukrainian legislation); • the citizens of Ukraine that have lost the Ukrainian passport in Crimea.

2) the de facto impossibility of entering the territory of Crimea for the following categories: • the Ukrainian citizens that permanently reside in the territory of Crimea, but lost the passport in mainland Ukraine; • the persons that return to Crimea from places of deportation, but did not have the Ukrainian documents issued by March.

In all these cases, the reason for refusal of entry and exit is referred to by the Russian border guards as the lack of appropriate identity documents for crossing the border of the Russian Federation.

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A separate check should be conducted with respect to the reports that at the border, the Ukrainian passports of certain people were seized as allegedly invalid and the people thus had no identity documents.

Another issue was the termination in December of passenger traffic from Ukraine to Crimea.

On December 26, the Ukrainian authorities decided to cancel the passenger bus and rail transportation to the territory of Crimea. The decision was adopted suddenly; the residents of Crimea were not notified in advance.

The rail transport is the most accessible and safe for passenger transportation. The decision adopted on the eve of the New Year holidays, without prior notice, put people in a difficult situation. The people traveling with the aim to reunite with their families, to visit the relatives etc. found themselves in a situation where they had to walk pass two borders in Crimea with the length of 4-5 km at the temperature of up to 15 degrees below zero.

In addition, in the initial few days there were no conditions for the foot crossing of the border; the border crossing was organized only for vehicles. The only vehicles available included the private cars or illegal carriers, which in turn led to many kilometers of traffic congestion in Crimea and the Kherson region, as well as the occurrence of accidents. There were also difficulties with the return of tickets in Crimea, which complicates their refund in the future. People had to bear the additional costs to enter or leave Crimea.

This decision is contrary to the legislation of Ukraine, violating the Law of Ukraine On ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens and the legal regime in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, namely Article 5: “Ukraine is committed to support and provide for economic, financial, political, social, informational, cultural and other relations with the citizens of Ukraine residing in the temporarily occupied territory”. The reasons for adoption of the given decision and its validity were not explained.

RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL AND EFFICIENT MEANS OF LEGAL PROTECTION In this section, several key trials highlighting the issues of justice in the new realia of Crimea are presented.

KOLCHENKO'S LAWSUIT ON THE RECOGNITION OF THE RIGHT TO CITIZENSHIP OF UKRAINE On December 5, in the Kiev District Court of Simferopol there was a preliminary hearing on the petition of the lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina related to recognizing the right of Alexander Kolchenko to retain the citizenship of Ukraine. The next hearing was scheduled for December 26, but the day before it was rescheduled for January 28, 2015.

Earlier, the Crimean anti-fascist and social activist Alexander Kolchenko was arrested in Simferopol on May 16, 2014 and convoyed to Moscow to Lefortovo prison. The FSS investigators accused him and three other residents of Crimea of organizing and participating in terrorist organizations, preparation of the terrorist attack and arms trafficking. Kolchenko was charged under Articles ‘Terrorist Act’ (par. “a” of part 2 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code) and ‘Participation in a terrorist community’ (part 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code). Despite the fact that Kolchenko considers himself a citizen of Ukraine, the investigation continues to insist on his Russian citizenship.

On July 29, 2014 Alexander Kolchenko submitted to the Department of FMS in the Republic of Crimea an official application with a request to restore the term for submission of application for retaining the citizenship of Ukraine, but the response has not yet been received. As a result, the investigating authorities of the Russian FSS did not recognize his citizenship of Ukraine, denied his meeting with the consul and deprived him of other rights of the foreign citizens.

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The lawyer of the detained noted that she was forced to go to court in connection with the lack of action of the Department of the Federal Migration Service in the Republic of Crimea. Svetlana Sidorkina considers that the term for submission of application for the retention of the citizenship of Ukraine was not observed by Kolchenko for a good reason. Firstly, he did not know the Russian legislation and the content of the Agreement concluded on March 18, 2014 between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Crimea on the admission of the Republic into the Russian Federation in part related to the change of citizenship.

Secondly, the prescribed term - one month - was not enough for the residents of Crimea to make an informed decision about the choice of citizenship. A considerable part of them, at the end of the term, did not submit applications either for the retention of the Ukrainian citizenship, or the obtaining of the Russian citizenship, as the consequences of these actions were unclear for the citizens. In addition, at the authorities receiving the applications there were long queues, it was necessary to spend a whole day in order to get an appointment with the officer. In Crimea, there were only three offices opened for receiving the applications for the rejection of the Russian citizenship, and they were not ready to receive all the comers.

Svetlana Sidorkina noted that Ukraine recognizes Kolchenko’s citizenship of Ukraine, as evidenced by the response of the Ukrainian Embassy in Russia to the lawyer’s request. In addition, the Russian legislation on citizenship should be consistent with the international standards. The Law On the Citizenship of the Russian Federation includes a provision on the choice of citizenship upon changing the borders of the Russian Federation. According to Article 21, “persons residing in the territory that changed nationality shall have the right to choose citizenship (optation) in the manner and within the term set by an international agreement of the Russian Federation”. However, in the case of admission of the Republic of Crimea the international agreement as such was not entered into because as of March 18, 2014 Crimea was not an independent state.

According to Part 4 of Article 15 of the Russian Constitution, the universally recognized principles and norms of international law and the international agreements of the Russian Federation are an integral part of its legal system. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: “Every person, wherever he may be, shall have the right to recognition before the law" (Art. 16). This means that a citizen of one state, residing or temporarily staying on the territory of another state, is subject to the jurisdiction of the host state and its legislation. But the legal relationship of such citizen with his state shall retain and appear in the respective powers of the state of nationality. In this case, the Russian Federation unreasonably refused to recognize Alexander Kolchenko before the law.

The defendant – the Department of FMS of the Republic of Crimea - did not recognize the claims on retention of Kolchenko’s Ukrainian citizenship. The lawyer supported the stated claims. The court suggested the Department of FMS to provide additional materials on the substance of the claim.

CONTINUED DETENTION OF KOLCHENKO, CHIRNIY, SENTSOV On December 25, the Lefortovo District Court of Moscow extended by April 16, 2015 the period of detention of Alexander Kolchenko, thus, the court granted the petition of the investigation. The investigator referred, in particular, to the fact that the period of investigation into the case was extended by April 28, 2015.

On December 25, the Lefortovo District Court of Moscow extended by April 9, 2015 the period of detention of the involved in the case of the so-called Crimean terrorists Alexey Chirniy. Neither Chirniy nor his lawyer objected to the extension: “At the discretion of the court”. The lawyer said that he arranged for a repeated psychological and psychiatric examination of Chirniy, the results of which are not yet ready. Earlier it was reported that he had confessed and agreed to cooperate with the investigation. Chirniy was arrested in May 2014 along with Gennadiy Afanasyev, Alexander Kolchenko and film director Oleg Sentsov. The latter, as 12

investigators believe, organized a criminal group, which allegedly was created at the direction of the “Right Sector” and aimed to “influence the decision-making by the bodies of the government of the Russian Federation related to the withdrawal of the Republic of Crimea from it”. Another four people involved in the case of the so-called Crimean terrorists are wanted by the police, their names are4: Asanov, Borkin, Zuikov, Tsyril.

On December 26, the Lefortovo District Court extended by April 11, 2015 the period of detention of the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov accused of planning the terrorist attacks in Crimea.

Sentsov claims that the investigation has no evidence linking him to the case other than the testimony of other involved in the case, which, he believes, were provided under the pressure of the investigation.

On December 17, the Moscow City Court sentenced Gennadiy Afanasyev to seven years in prison under the case of the so-called ‘Crimean terrorists’.

Together with Afanasyev, the case involved the film director Oleg Sentsov, anti-fascist Alexander Kolchenko, historian Alexey Chirniy and other “unidentified persons”. The Afanasyev’s criminal case was severed.

According to investigators, Afanasyev was a member of the Sentsov’s group, who in April 2014, acting at the direction of the Ukrainian “Right Sector”, created in Simferopol a “terrorist organization’, which allegedly aimed to “influence the decision-making by the bodies of the government of the Russian Federation related to the withdrawal of the Republic of Crimea from it”. Chirniy, Kolchenko, Afanasyev and “other unidentified persons”, according to investigators, at the direction of Sentsov committed the arson of the building of the ‘Russian Community of Crimea’ on April 14, and the local branch of the ‘United Russia’ on April 18. Then, little damage was caused, the door of the first building and the window of the second building were burned.

After that, allegedly at the direction of Sentsov, Chirniy and Afanasyev purchased the improvised explosive devices to arrange two terrorist attacks on May 9 in Simferopol - to blow up a statue of Lenin at the railway station square and the ‘Eternal Flame’ memorial. However, the explosion did not happen due to the fact that both of them were arrested, the investigation insists. The charges to the so-called Crimean terrorists were brought under the Article ‘Terrorist act’ (par. “a”, part 2 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code) and “Participation in a terrorist community” (part 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code) as well as “Illegal purchase of explosive devices” (part 3 of Article 222 of the Criminal Code). Alexey Chirniy, Gennadiy Afanasyev, Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko were arrested by officers of the FSS in Simferopol in this May. After the arrest under court decision, all of them were transported to Moscow. Chirniy and Afanasyev confessed after their arrest, Sentsov denies his guilt; he said that he was tortured after his arrest. Kolchenko denies his involvement in terrorism.

CASE OF CO "FOUNDATION CRIMEA" On December 16, Risa Shevkiev, Director of the ‘Foundation Crimea’, accidentally learned about the deference of consideration of the appeal on the decision of the court of first instance against the Director of the Foundation from December 16 to December 18.

He did not receive the summons on the date and time of the court hearing.

According to the Crimean Field Mission, the ‘Foundation Crimea’, as a legal entity, was summoned to the Court of Appeal on December 16, but two hours before the hearing, the representatives of the Foundation were informed by the court that the consideration was deferred to December 18. The hearing on the appeal against the decision, which sentenced Shevkiev, as the Director of the organization, to a penalty in the amount of 350 thousand rubles was scheduled for the same time.

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However, the Director of the Foundation, according to him, found out about it by chance, because he did not receive the summons and stopped by the court to make sure that the proceedings on the Foundation was actually deferred to another date. Risa Shevkiev believes that this was done not by accident - his absence at the appellate hearing in the first case would have had the substantiated negative effects in the course of appeal against a decision in respect to the Foundation, which was fined 4 mln. rubles.

SYSTEMIC ISSUES In addition to certain significant proceedings, it is possible to indicate the systemic issue of application of the Russian criminal law in relation to offenses committed before March 2014.

In Crimea, the punishment is applied according to the Russian legislation, including with respect to crimes that were investigated under the Ukrainian legislation prior to establishment of control of the Russian Federation over the territory of Crimea peninsula. As a result, in fact there is a situation where people are sentenced for violating the dormant, at the time of committing the offense, laws. Thus, one of the basic principles of the criminal law is violated: “nullum crimen nulla poena sine lege” (no crime and no punishment without a pre-existing penal law), i.e., the person shall only be liable for the commission of acts which are defined as crimes by law in force at the given time in the given area.

One example of this is the information published on the website5 of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Crimea on the fact that the former Deputy Head of the State Tax Inspectorate of Alushta of the State Department of the Ministry of Revenue and Duties in Crimea was found guilty of an offense under paragraph “b” of part 5 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (acceptance of bribe in a large amount, coupled with its extortion), which she had committed before March 18, 2014. She was sentenced to 7 years in prison. A number of similar messages are being currently verified by the CFM.

CRIMEAN SELF-DEFENSE The ‘people’s militia’ of Crimea, or as it is often referred to ‘the Crimean self-defense’, is one of the main systemic violations of human rights in Crimea. By the end of 2014 the attempts to legitimize this paramilitary formation can be clearly seen.

It should be reminded that the so-called ‘Crimean self-defense’ has emerged as an illegal armed group on February 20, 2014 and has been extensively involved in the storming of the Ukrainian military units, the squad of assemblies in support of the ‘Maidan’ and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the capture of administrative buildings. The ‘self-defense’ includes former personnel of the special force ‘Bercut’ of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the representatives of sports clubs and associations, as well as criminal organizations, including Russian citizens and local residents. In March there were numerous contacts of the ‘Crimean self-defense’ with the Russian servicemen in joint actions.

There is evidence of the involvement of representatives of the ‘Crimean self-defense’ in the most serious violations of human rights, namely, the abduction and murder of Reshat Ametov (the body was found on March 15); the abduction and torture of more than 20 Ukrainian activists (among them Andrey Schekun, Anatoliy Kovalskiy and others).

After March 18, the ‘Crimean self-defense’ was not disbanded, vice versa - the process of its establishment as a force structure to support the Crimean government (especially of S.Aksenov) and suppress any attempts to oppose the new government commenced.

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The first attempt of the Crimean authorities aimed to legitimize the ‘Crimean self-defense’ was taken on June 11 – the Crimean authorities adopted a Law6 On the People’s Militia – the people’s guard of the Republic of Crimea. This Law has put the ‘Crimean self-defense’ under the control of the Head of Crimea S. Aksenov and of the Council of Ministers of Crimea, and assigned to the paramilitary formation the status of people’s guards.

The ‘people’s militia – people’s guard’ was directly established by the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea. The chief of staff was appointed by the Head of the Republic of Crimea. Despite the attempts of the Crimean authorities to call it a voluntary community group, the provisions of the law envisaged that this structure is subject to the leadership of Crimea and, in fact, becomes a part of the security unit.

The Law stipulates the establishment of the ‘Crimean Republican Headquarters of the People’s Militia – People’s Guard of the Republic of Crimea’ by the Council of Ministers. The headquarters was assigned a form of a state public institution and the status of a legal entity in order to receive budget financing.

However, such a direct dependence of the people’s militia, which in accordance with the same Law was supposed to be a voluntary community groups, on the Crimean authorities (S.Aksenov and the Council of Ministers) was contrary to the laws of the Russian Federation. Thus, the management of the people’s militia by the Council of Ministers was contrary to the Federal Law of May 19, 1995 #82-FZ On Public Associations and the Federal Law of April 2, 2014 #44-FZ On the participation of citizens in the protection of public order.

For this reason, on November 26, the Crimean authorities amended the Law On People’s Militia – People’s Guard of the Republic of Crimea, according to which the management of the militia shall no longer be carried out by the Council of Ministers, but the commanders elected by members of people’s guards. However, these commanders shall be agreed with the Council of Ministers of Crimea and the territorial bodies of the federal executive authority of internal affairs. The structure of the people’s militia shall be determined not by the Council of Ministers, but the statute of the people’s militia. However, in practice, the ‘Crimean self-defense’, in the form of the ‘people’s militia’, continues to be subordinate to Aksenov. Members of the people’s militia, in personal communication, are constantly stating that they fulfill the orders of the Head of Crimea.

These changes have assigned to a formally people’s militia the status of the public association, however, the information department of the people’s militia declared that they retain the status of a public institution. The retaining of status of the state public institution by the ‘Crimean Republican Headquarters of the People’s Militia of the People’s Guard of the Republic of Crimea’ was confirmed by the Resolution of the Head of Administration of Simferopol G.S. Bakharev of December 15, 2014. According to the Resolution, the state public institution the ‘Crimean Republican Headquarters of the People’s Militia of the People’s Guard of the Republic of Crimea’ represented by Turchanenko S.A. shall be involved in the organization of the pedestrian zone in Simferopol (Annex 6).

The danger associated with the ‘Crimean self-defense’ is not only in the fact that it is constantly involved in the military actions (including, causing the unavoidable in such situations violations of human rights), but also in the fact that the Crimean authorities have created all conditions for this: impunity, encouraging of their activity, creation of a positive image, their funding (both formal and shadow).

In the media, as well as in the complaints and reports of the residents of Crimea, the ‘Crimean self-defense’, and later the ‘people’s militia’ is always referred to as participants of abductions and harassment of the Crimean Tatars and the pro-Ukrainian activists; obstruction of journalistic activities and harassment of individual journalists; obstruction of peaceful assembly; attacks on churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate, searches of mosques, madrassas, homes of leaders of Crimean Tatars; capture of the privately and collectively owned commercial buildings.

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Despite the numerous reports of crimes committed by the ‘Crimean self-defense’, its members have not been brought to justice. In addition, the Crimean authorities made an attempt to grant amnesty to members of the ‘Crimean self-defense’.

Thus, on October 2, in the State Duma of the Russian Federation a draft law7 #613379-6 On Amendments to the Federal Constitutional Law of March 21, 2014 #6-FKZ On admission into the Russian Federation of the Republic of Crimea and formation of a new subject of the Russian Federation – the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol (on the regulations governing public authorities of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol) was registered, which was submitted on the initiative of S. Aksenov. The draft law envisages that the actions of members of people’s militia, people’s guard and other persons, that have been agreed with the leadership of Crimea, which caused harm or damage, undertaken for the purpose of protecting the public order and the interests of the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol during the period from February 27, 2014 until 1 January 2015, except for the actions undertaken by the said persons with the purpose of enrichment and based on other mercenary motives, shall be considered the actions committed in a state of emergency. Thus, an intention to exempt the members of the ‘Crimean self-defense’ from criminal liability for crimes that not only have been already committed, but even for those that can be committed by January 1, 2015 was demonstrated. This draft law has not been adopted by the State Duma of the Russian Federation; however, it demonstrates the broad support of unlawful actions of the ‘Crimean self-defense’ by the Crimean authorities.

The approval of the actions of the ‘Crimean self-defense’, which became the public institution the ‘Crimean Republican Headquarters of the People’s Militia – People’s Guard of the Republic of Crimea’ was also confirmed by the regular acknowledgements to the ‘fighters’ of this institution granted by the Head of Crimea S. Aksenov.

Thus, on October 3, Aksenov announced acknowledgements8 “for the faithful performance of duty on the protection of the public order and ensuring public security in the territory of the Republic of Crimea” to 27 ‘fighters’ of the people’s militia; on October 8, the same acknowledgements9 were declared to 37 ‘fighters’ – members of people’s militia. Among them there is Vladislav Maguylo, who calls himself the chief of staff of the ‘people’s militia’ on educational work.

On October 1, the certificates of appreciation of the Council of Ministers of Crimea were given10 to Khokhlov V.V., the commander of the 9th company of the ‘Crimean Republican Headquarters of the People’s Militia – People’s Guard of the Republic of Crimea’, Shigalev N.V., the commander of the 12th company, Tsymbal I.V., the soldier of the people’s militia.

The impunity of the ‘people’s militia’ is also amplified by the general militarization of the Crimean society.

Thus, within a month in Crimea at least three documents were adopted aimed at the organization of life of the Crimean society in war.

In particular, on November 17, a Decree11 of S. Aksenov On the establishment of the evacuation commission of the Republic of Crimea was adopted for planning the activities in preparation for the evacuation of the population, material and cultural assets to the safe areas, their placement, the deployment of medical and other institutions needed to ensure the priority support of the affected population in the course of danger 7

http://asozd2.duma.gov.ru/main.nsf/%28SpravkaNew%29?OpenAgent&RN=613379-6&02

8

http://rk.gov.ru/rus/file/pub/pub_233950.pdf

9

http://rk.gov.ru/rus/file/pub/pub_234325.pdf

10

http://rk.gov.ru/rus/file/pub/pub_233765.pdf

11

http://rk.gov.ru/rus/file/pub/pub_235181.pdf 16

arising from the military action or as a result of such action, as well as in emergency situations.

On November 21, a Decree12 of S. Aksenov On the organization of training of the citizens of the Republic of Crimea in the field of defense and in the basics of military service in 2015 was adopted.

On December 2, a Decree13 of S. Aksenov On maintaining the sustainable functioning of organizations of the Republic of Crimea in wartime and in case of emergencies was adopted.

In addition, on December 19, an updated version14 of the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation was adopted.

In the context of militarization of the public conscience, the credibility and impunity of the ‘Crimean selfdefense’ is increasing, and the level of critical attitude towards it from the local population declines.

The formal, financial, informational, material and technical support by the Crimean authorities of the paramilitary forces ‘people’s militia – people’s guard’ (the so-called ‘Crimean self-defense’) and the actual amnesty of its members for crimes, led to the systemic violations of human rights in Crimea, in respect of which there is a lack of effective remedies.

COURT PROCEEDINGS On December 19, the President of the Russian Federation signed a Decree #786 On the appointment of federal judges, which for a period of 6 years appointed the Deputy Chairmen of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol city court, the chairmen of the four district courts, deputies of the heads of 18 district courts and 2 garrison military courts, several hundreds of Crimean judges.

At the same time, according to the CFM, not all the judges that held office until March 18, 2014 and passed the competitive selection, had been appointed as judges in Crimea under the given Decree.

In Saki, the judges who have not passed the High Judicial Qualification Board, defer the review of the assigned cases in order not to deal with consideration of cases before the official dismissal.

As of December 26, in Crimea and Sevastopol, the courts established under the laws of the Russian Federation began their work. According to the Resolution of the Plenary Meeting of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the date of commencement of the work of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea, the Arbitration Court of the Republic of Crimea, the district and municipal courts of the Republic of Crimea, the Crimean garrison military court, the Sevastopol City Court, the Arbitration Court of Sevastopol, the district courts of Sevastopol, the Sevastopol garrison military court, the Twenty-First Arbitration Court of Appeal shall be December 26, 2014.

Thus, in fact, up to that time, in Crimea and Sevastopol the courts were not established and the judges were not elected in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. And even after the adoption of the above Resolution of the Plenary Session of the SC of the RF and the Presidential Decree, the procedures for the establishment of the courts and election of judges in Crimea and Sevastopol are contrary to specific provisions of the legislation of the Russian Federation and the international rule of law, which calls into question the legitimacy and independence of the judiciary of the peninsula.

12

http://rk.gov.ru/rus/file/pub/pub_235338.pdf

13

http://rk.gov.ru/rus/file/pub/pub_235995.pdf

14

http://news.kremlin.ru/media/events/files/41d527556bec8deb3530.pdf?_ga=1.4597555.1086599570.1420650242 17

ISSUES RELATED TO CITIZENSHIP The Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights continues to monitor the situation with the issues related to citizenship in Crimea.

In December, the monitoring group of the CFM observed a slight decrease in queues to the departments of the Federal Migration Service. However, in Simferopol there were also several queues of 1,000 people.

It should be noted, that compared to the previous month, the number of representatives of the self-defense being on duty at the buildings of the FMS decreased, and at some departments they were absent.

On December 19, the Head of the Department of the Federal Migration Service of Russia in the Republic of Crimea Peter Yarosh said that the issuance of passports of the Russian Federation to the residents of Crimea has been completed and that more than 1.56 million passports of the citizens of the Russian Federation were issued.

Following this statement, the monitoring group of the CFM observed that in some divisions of the Federal Migration Service of Crimea the receipt of documents for obtaining the Russian passports was terminated until the end of 2014, despite the fact that were still working days (for example, in Alushta), and those willing (and in some cases, in queues) to apply for a Russian passport.

The most acute issue related to citizenship as of the end of 2014 was the fact that the citizens of Ukraine (that legally acquired the citizenship of Ukraine), that do not wish to acquire the Russian citizenship, in Crimea, in the future shall have the status of foreign citizens in accordance with Russian law. These citizens are forced to accept the status of a foreign national, undergo the legalization procedures under the Russian law, which may entail certain consequences - employment restrictions, restrictions on crossing the border, the risks of expulsion etc.

The CFM noted earlier that the queues for migration registration in the FMS are large, and the speed of advancement of people in the queue is very low. As a result, some people cannot receive the migration status in time, which leads to the risk of expulsion from the place of permanent residence. In some cases, people are faced with the issue of an ‘automatic’ citizenship, when the FMS denies a person in obtaining a residence permit or a temporary residence permit on the grounds that the person had not filed or failed to file an application for the renunciation of the Russian citizenship by the mid April 2014.

Some people that did not have the registration for the period of March 2014 in Crimea, but resided in its territory, in order to obtain the migration status should prove in court that they had lived in Crimea. The residents of Crimea that cannot prove, under the Russian law, that they had lived in Crimea, cannot get the migration status. As a result, they are forced to leave the territory of Crimea. This situation brings some people to despair.

Thus, on December 25, in Feodosia Valery Komov began a hunger strike. He had permanently resided in Feodosia for about 10 years, but as of March 16 had no registration of residence in Crimea. For this reason he was denied a Russian passport. He then went to court to establish the fact of permanent residence. In court, the relatives and neighbors confirmed that he has lived in Crimea since 2005. However, the court refused to establish the fact of Komov’s permanent residence. After the given court decision Komov began a hunger strike in protest and disagreement with the court decision.

A special risk group is represented by the Crimean Tatars returning from places of deportation. The representatives of the Crimean Tatars say that currently, in Crimea, there are about four thousand such people. After 90 days of stay in Crimea, in respect of such people the decisions are adopted prescribing to leave the territory of the Russian Federation. Many of these people are not able to go back as they sold all their possessions in the places of deportation. In the Crimean courts of first instance, such persons were 18

unable to obtain citizenship in order to stay in Crimea. Now these cases are considered in the Crimean courts of second instance.

2.2. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS PROPERTY RIGHTS The Crimean authorities continue the nationalization of the state and collective property in Crimea and are issuing new regulations for this purpose.

Thus, the State Council of Crimea supported the introduction of changes15 to the Law #38-ZRK of July 31, 2014 On specific aspects of regulation of property and land relations in the Republic of Crimea. The changes allow, at the legislative level, to perform the nationalization of property to the ownership of the Republic of Crimea. The land plots and other property objects, which were the property of Ukraine as of March 17, become the property of the Republic of Crimea. In addition, the trade unions or other NGOs that do not have the branches in Crimea, lose ownership of the property in Crimea, and the title is transferred to the Republic of Crimea.

In all these cases S. Aksenov suggests using a Decree #1745-6/14 of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea of March 17, 2014 On the independence of Crimea as the document of title. This document was adopted in violation of the Ukrainian legislation and international law and is not legitimate, and thus cannot entail legal consequences and be a document of title.

In addition, the draft envisages the introduction of ban (until January 1, 2016) on making transactions of a certain type on the disposal of assets (e.g., land shares, agricultural lands).

However, on December 24, the Presidium of the State Council of Crimea included these changes in the agenda of the meeting of the Crimean parliament to adopt them in the second reading.

The State Council of the Republic of Crimea adopted the Law16 On the settlement of debt (overpayment) of taxpayers registered in the Republic of Crimea of December 24, 2014. Under the provisions of this Law, the Tax Office of the Republic of Crimea by December 31, 2014 shall form the database of taxpayers that have not undergo the re-registration procedure in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and have not applied for the re-registration as of December 29, 2014, in arrears on payments to the budget for a transition period.

This Law poses a threat of violation of Article 1 of the Protocol #1 to the ECHR. In the case of application of this Law in practice, the victims of violations may be many people who were registered as entrepreneurs in Crimea. Throughout the period after March 16, 2014, in Crimea there was and still there is no opportunity to cancel the registration as an entrepreneur for those registered under the laws of Ukraine. In addition, many entrepreneurs moved to mainland Ukraine. However, in accordance with this Law, all of them can face the charge of additional taxes and duties.

In fact, the Law is retroactive, allowing to charge and collect the arrears formed by the end of the transition period for the entrepreneurs may not have conducted the business and were not registered as entrepreneurs according to the legislation of the Russian Federation.

In Crimea, the seizure of commercial property continues. Thus, on December 23, the employees of the fish cannery Interflot-Product, which is located in Sebastopol, announced the raid on the enterprise. Director

15

http://crimea.gov.ru/draft/4365

16

http://www.crimea.gov.ru/textdoc/ru/7/act/56z.pdf 19

of the enterprise Vladimir Nigar believes that the seizure involved a Moscow company Dorina LLC, because it had previously made a complaint to the former owner of the plant. The employees claim that the territory of the plant was entered by about 150 people that illegally detained the employees, and inflicted bodily injuries on one of them.

On December 23, the Ukrainian journalist Roman Bochkala said that in Sevastopol and Simferopol, in 10 apartments, that were previously privatized by the Ukrainian servicemen, the FSS officers appeared demanding to vacate the premises; they changed the locks and sealed the doors. The CFM is verifying this information.

On December 27, in Simferopol, the armed men seized the supermarket Apple. The eyewitnesses claim that the seizure was carried out by athletic young men with guns, which without explanation took the employees of the store outside. According to them, on the chevrons and cars of participants of the seizure there were logos of the private security agency Angel. The director of the supermarket Apple, Nadezhda Anisimova said that the invaders turned off the electricity in the store, which led to the deterioration of essential goods and losses of the enterprise as a whole. According to her, all the employees were thrown idle.

The police and prosecutors have not taken appropriate measures of response and did not ensure the protection of property.

The CFM found out the information about another case of property seizure that involved the ‘Crimean selfdefense’. V. Sineglazova in her address to the President of the RF and the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation indicates that at the territory of Saki district the PE Trassa was engaged in provision of the transport services. On July 20, 2014, the representatives of the ‘Crimean self – defense’ seized this enterprise. On December 5, the employees and owners of the enterprise once again appealed to the local administration demanding to vacate the unlawfully occupied enterprise. However, the armed men are still in the premises. The employees believe that the seizure involves the Head of the Saki Administration Andrey Ivkin (Annex 7).

Earlier, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Crimea reviewed the legality of the transfer by the Partenit Village Council of the land plot to the ownership of JSC LOC Ayvazovskoe. After that, the Prosecutor’s Office filed a suit in court in order to invalidate the decision on the allocation of land and the lease agreements. In December, the court granted the prosecutor’s claim in full. The owners of the land plot believe that the case was fabricated for the purpose of seizure of land.

The car owners in Crimea are required to obtain new license plates under the Russian law. According to the Ukrainian legislation, such plates shall not be recognized by the State Automobile Inspection of Ukraine, as they were issued in the occupied territory. In this regard, the car owners traveling to mainland Ukraine with new “Crimean” plates shall be charged with an administrative penalty that envisages also the seizure of the vehicle (Annex 8). This situation leads to a significant restriction of the right to use vehicles by Crimeans forced to obtain Russian license plates.

REGISTRATION OF RIGHTS AND LEGAL RELATIONS The Department of Civil Registry of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Crimea has published the information that for the period from August 11 to December 1, 2014 the Registry Offices of the Republic of Crimea issued a total of 54 thousand 193 certificates of state registration of civil status, of which: •

31 thousand 555 primary, issued under the civil registry,

20

•

20 thousand 233 repeated, issued in connection with the loss, damage, dilapidation of the original documents;

•

2 thousand 405 certificates issued in connection with changes, corrections and additions.

However, these documents were issued in violation of the Ukrainian legislation, and therefore are invalid and cannot be used outside of Crimea.

In addition, the grounds for repeated issuing of documents in connection with the loss of the originals remain unclear, since the registration databases of such documents are Ukrainian and unavailable in Crimea.

The Crimean authorities stated that the documents of title to land and real estate in Crimea issued in Ukraine shall be valid on the territory of Crimea without confirmation.

2.3. POSITION OF VULNERABLE GROUPS. MANIFESTATIONS OF XENOPHOBIA UKRAINIANS The Ukrainians willing to retain the citizenship of Ukraine and not obtain the Russian citizenship face a variety of obstruction in obtaining a residence permit in the bodies of the FMS. In addition, an important issue for Ukrainians is the opportunity to receive education in their native language.

The number of schools and classes with the Ukrainian language of instruction has declined sharply; the parents are forced to refuse from the Ukrainian language of instruction.

The CFM appealed to the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of Crimea in order to obtain information about the activity of educational institutions in Crimea. According to the reply of the Ministry, earlier in Crimea there were 7 “secondary educational institutions” with the Ukrainian language of instruction.

However, as of the end of 2014, the Ministry was able to name only two schools where there still is the Ukrainian language of instruction: the “Crimean boarding school for gifted children of the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of the Republic of Crimea” in the Tankovoe village of Bakhchisarai district and the “Ukrainian gymnasium” in Simferopol, which already opened classes with instruction in Russian (Annex 9).

In addition, there is a reduction in the number of teachers of the Ukrainian language and literature. Thus, in 2013, there were 1,573 such teachers, and in 2014 the number of teachers of the ‘non-Russian language and literature’, which includes not only the teachers of the Ukrainian language, was 777. This means that the number of teachers of the Ukrainian language and literature for the six months has decreased at least twofold.

In addition, a significant number of teachers of the Ukrainian language in order to maintain a workplace in school are forced to undergo a re-training in “Philology. Teacher of Russian language and literature”. The Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of Crimea reported that already by the end of 2014 this training was participated by 590 people.

The sharp reduction in the number of students with the Ukrainian language of instruction is confirmed by the reply of the Council of Ministers of Crimea at the request of the Presidential Council for Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights of December 24, 2014 (Annex 10).

Thus, in the 2013-2014 academic year, in educational institutions of Crimea the 12 thousand 694 students had the Ukrainian language of instruction, and in the 2014-2015 academic year, there were only 1,990 of such students. Thus, over the past six months, the number of students with the Ukrainian language of instruction decreased by 6 times, given that only 30-40 thousand people left the Crimea. In the 2013-2014

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academic year, the Ukrainian language in secondary schools and classes was previously studied by 162 thousand 764 students and in the 2014-2015 – by only 39 thousand 150 students, which is 4 times less.

CRIMEAN TATARS The Crimean Tatars are still subject to illegal searches under the pretext of searching for weapons, drugs and banned extremist materials. In December, there were searches of the homes of the Crimean Tatars and the mosques. Mustafa Yagyaev, whose house was searched on December 18, said that the reason for the search was a conflict with an employee. After the conflict, according to Yagaev, she wrote a complaint to the police, accusing him of inciting ethnic hatred. The search lasted for 5 hours, and the police confiscated several religious books, the hard drive from the laptop, phones, some documents and photos.

The search, which took place in a mosque in the Turgenevka village of Bakhchisarai district, has been held for the second time.

The widespread resentment among the Crimean Tatars was caused on December 12 by a summons for questioning of the eighty-year old activist of the national movement of the Crimean Tatars Wedgie Kashka.

To the questioning, together with Wedgie Kashka went the lawyer Emil Kurbedinov and the crew of the Crimean Tatar ATP TV channel. The lawyer said that in the end, the questioning did not take place, since Wedgie Kashka refused to testify against herself. The lawyer believes that the decision to cancel the questioning was also influenced by the media presence.

The CFM has determined that the law enforcement officials, without the explanation of reasons, conducted ‘inspections’ of the so-called squatting of Crimean Tatars (houses and land plots that had previously been willfully occupied by the Crimean Tatars because of the lack of opportunity to obtain the land after returning from places of deportation).

The head of the NGO Sebat Reshat Seidaliev reported the presence of the law enforcement officers in at least two squattings in Simferopol district. The police officers in groups of eight to ten people, at night, went round the houses with the requirement to show the documents and asked questions about the identity of all persons living in the house. At the same time, according to Seidaliev, the law enforcement officers were rude, did not explain the grounds for checking the documents and their actions.

In addition, the CFM established that on December 17, as part of inspection into the smuggling, the FSS officers conducted an inspection of one of the premises of the ‘Foundation Crimea’, where the belongings of the Crimean Tatar writer Dzhengiz Dagdzhi, given to the museum, were kept. The boxes with belongings were not opened as they were sealed by the diplomatic agency of Turkey. There was an inventory and photographing of the things stored in the premises.

A significant number of the Crimean Tatars face difficulties in obtaining the permanent residence permit or a Russian passport, as many of them, as of March 16, did not have the residence registration in Crimea.

INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS AND REFUGEES The FMS reported that the number of temporary asylum seekers amounted to 16 thousand 790 people that moved to Crimea from the eastern Ukraine. The Crimean Ombudsman L. Lubina believes that in Crimea there are 5,000 unregistered ‘refugees from the eastern Ukraine’, who live in the private households. She believes that the influx of such persons in Crimea would increase the rate of unemployment and crime.

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Such people are not allowed to remain in Crimea for a long time. This decision was substantiated by the fact that the temporary asylum for foreign citizens and stateless persons on the territory of Crimea is not granted, and the quota is allocated to only 5,000 of such people, while in 2015 this figure will decrease to 1,500.

These people are registered on the territory of Crimea as asylum seekers, and then transported to the various regions of the Russian Federation. In this connection, the monitoring of their status, seizures or issuance of any documents, the living conditions, is practically impossible.

III. PROBLEMS OF THE RESIDENTS OF CRIMEA WHO HAD TO EXCAPE FROM THE PENINSULA AND MOVE TO CONTINENTAL UKRAINE (INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS) GENERAL SITUATION Among the major systemic issues faced by internally displaced persons from Crimea in Ukraine are as follows.

1. Assignment of the status of the ‘non-resident’ to all persons who have a registered place of residence in Crimea.

Earlier, the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) adopted a Resolution #69917, which reserved the status of ‘non-residents’ for Crimeans. This has led to the territorial discrimination (on the basis of place of registration in Crimea) in the exercise of economic rights. The main issues include: the restrictions in obtaining the financial services in the banks, business activity, the blocking of all accounts of legal entities that have been registered in Crimea.

On December 16, the NBU introduced changes to this Resolution and adopted a Resolution of the Board of the NBU #81018. The Resolution retained the status of ‘non-residents’ for the Crimeans. The changes suggest that this status can be removed only if “an individual being an internally displaced person that obtained a certificate under the legislation of Ukraine which certifies his residence in the mainland Ukraine, shall be considered a resident of Ukraine. For the purposes of identification of an internally displaced person, the place of residence in the territory of Ukraine shall be the address of residence specified in the certificate”.

The citizens of Ukraine that remained on the territory of Crimea for residence and are not the internally displaced persons shall retain their former restrictions of economic rights. The new Resolution of the NBU does not address the issue of legal entities, which were registered in Crimea, their accounts will remain blocked, which also means the inability to continue their activity.

2. On December 26, the Ukrainian authorities adopted a decision to cancel the passenger bus19 and rail20 transportation to the territory of Crimea. This decision was motivated by the need to ensure the security.

However, it has led to an increased risk for the life and health of those who were on their way to Crimea or from Crimea, because the people had to cross the two borders in Crimea with the length of 4-5 km on foot, at the temperature of up to 15 degrees below zero.

17

http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/v0699500-14

18

http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/v0810500-14/paran2#n2

19

http://www.uti.gov.ua/transinsp/uk/publish/article/97485

20

http://uz.gov.ua/press_center/up_to_date_topic/395134/ 23

In addition, these borders are not equipped for pedestrians. The only vehicles available were the private cars or illegal carriers, which has led to many kilometers of traffic congestion on the roads in Crimea and the Kherson region, and the occurrence of accidents.

This decision entailed the material losses, since the tickets for buses and trains became invalid after December 27, and the buyers did not receive the compensation in full. In addition, the people had to bear additional costs in order to enter or leave Crimea. The fare to Crimea has increased from 30 to 60%.

In addition, it has violated the Law of Ukraine21 On ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens and the legal regime in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, namely Article 5: “Ukraine is committed to ensuring and providing the economic, financial, political, social, informational, cultural and other relations with the citizens of Ukraine residing in the temporarily occupied territory�.

3. A more widespread issue of Crimean residents that receive the documents in Crimea is related to the acts of civil status (birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates etc.). According to the Law of Ukraine On ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens and the legal regime in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, all acts issued by the unlawful authorities in Crimea are recognized by Ukraine as invalid.

As a result, the residents of Crimea cannot use the documents issued in Crimea for obtaining administrative and social services in mainland Ukraine. This leads to a significant restriction of their social and economic rights (such as entry into an inheritance, registration of child benefits and other).

The review was prepared by: Olga Skrypnik Vissarion Aseev Dariia Sviridova Victoria Gromova Dmitry Makarov Tetiana Pechonchyk

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http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1207-18 24

ANNEXES Приложение 1

Отказ администрация города Симферополя Комитету по защите прав крымскотатарского народа в проведении 10 декабря митинга на площади им. Ленина

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Приложение 2

Предостережение прокуратуры Синаверу Кадырову о недопущении нарушения законодательства РФ

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Приложение 3

Во время пресс-конференции Комитета защиты прав крымскотатарского народа группа неизвестных лиц в количестве не менее десяти человек, осуществила провокацию, облив зеленкой выступающих – на фотографии Эскендер Бариев, пострадавший от этих действий

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Приложение 4

Предостережение прокуратуры Симферопольского района Ризе Шевкиеву, директору БО «Фонд «Крым» «о недопустимости нарушения законодательства о противодействии экстремисткой деятельности и законодательства о собраниях, митингах, демонстрациях, шествиях и пикетированиях»

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Приложение 5

Отказ Управления Министерства юстиции РФ в Крыму от 18 декабря БО «Фонд «Крым» в регистрации НКО

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Приложение 6

Распоряжение главы администрации Симферополя Г.С. Бахарева от 15 декабря 2014 г. О привлечении Государственного казенного учреждения «Крымский Республиканский штаб народного ополчения народной дружины Республики Крым» для организации пешеходной зоны в Симферополе

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Приложение 7 Президенту Российской Федерации В.В. Путину Уполномоченному по правам человека в РФ Э.А. Панфилова Во временную рабочую группу по правам человека в Крыму Совета при ПЧ при Президенте РФ

Синеглазовой Виолетты ОБРАЩЕНИЕ На территории Сакского района Республики Крым работает ЧП «Трасса», которое осуществляет транспортные перевозки пассажиров. 20 июля 2014 года по настоящее время лица которые называют себя самообороной, захватили предприятие. Руководство предприятия неоднократно обращалось к местным властям с просьбой навести порядок в Сакском районе и избавить предпринимателей от захватов народным ополчением их собственности. Согласно внесенным изменениям в Закон «О народном ополчении» лица входящие в это формирование осуществляют функции дружинников, то есть имеют права патрулировать улицы совместно с сотрудниками правоохранительных органов.

05.12.2014 года была совершенна очередная законная попытка призвать данных лиц из народного ополчения покинуть помещение предприятия, но, увы, все осталось без изменения. На наш вопрос: На каком основании лица из народного ополчения находятся на территории ЧП «Трасса»? был получен ответ, что мы выполняем непосредственное распоряжение Сакского главы администрации Андрея Ивкина, поэтому обращаться, с вами не имеем права. Данные неизвестные лица находятся на территории с холодным оружием, спецсредствами, разрешение на ношение которых у них отсутствует. При этом сами же эти лица подтверждают, что они не являются охранным предприятием, а выполняют распоряжение главы администрации Андрея Ивкина. Считаю, что в районе под прикрытием главы администрации Андрея Ивкина осуществляются незаконные действия, данное должностное лицо злоупотребляем своим служебным положением, тем самым нарушает права людей на осуществление хозяйственной деятельности в районе. Прошу разобраться в ситуации, и принять меры согласно действующего законодательства Российской Федерации.

С уважением,

Виолетта Синеглазова

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Приложение 8

Ответ Департамента государственной автомобильной инспекции на запрос Украинского Хельсинского союза по правам человека о регистрации, перерегистрации транспортных средств в Крыму и порядка их въезда на материковую часть Украины

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Приложение 9

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Ответ Министерства образования, науки и молодежи Крыма на запрос Крымской полевой миссии

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Приложение 10

Ответ Совета министров Крыма на запрос Совета при Президенте РФ по развитию гражданского общества и прав человека от 24 декабря 2014 г.

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