Crimea Field Mission Report: May 2014 by DHRP

Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights Brief Review of the Situation in Crimea (May 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 Freedom of Speech and Expression................................................................................................................................. 5 Freedom of Peaceful Assembly ......................................................................................................................................... 6 Freedom of Associations..................................................................................................................................................... 7 Freedom of Conscience and Religion .............................................................................................................................. 7 Freedom of Movement........................................................................................................................................................ 8 Right to a Fair Trial and Efficient Means of Legal Protection ..................................................................................... 8 Court Proceedings................................................................................................................................................................ 9 Issues Related to Citizenship........................................................................................................................................... 11 Political Rights..................................................................................................................................................................... 12

2.2. Social and Economic Rights.......................................................................................................................................... 12 Property Rights ................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Registration of Rights ................................................................................................................................................... 13 Banking System.............................................................................................................................................................. 13 Freedom of Entreprise .................................................................................................................................................. 14 Labour Rights...................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Right to Health Care .......................................................................................................................................................... 15 Other..................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 2.3. Position of Vulnerable Groups. Manifestations of Xenophobia ............................................................................. 15 Ukrainians ........................................................................................................................................................................ 15 Crimean Tatars ............................................................................................................................................................... 16 Persons Serving a Sentence ........................................................................................................................................ 16 III. Problems of the Residents of Crimea who Had to Flee the Peninsula and Move to Continental Ukraine (Internally Displaced Persons) ............................................................................................................................................. 17 Social and Economic Rights ............................................................................................................................................. 17 Right to Education ......................................................................................................................................................... 17 Provision of Housing ..................................................................................................................................................... 17 Registration ..................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Property. Banks .............................................................................................................................................................. 18 Business and Economic Activities............................................................................................................................... 19 Employment .................................................................................................................................................................... 19 Annexes..................................................................................................................................................................................... 20

The monitoring review prepared with support from the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Democratization and Human Rights in Ukraineâ&#x20AC;? project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme and financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. 2

І. IN TRODUCTION 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 May 2014. The Crimean Field Mission (hereafter – “the CFM”) commenced its work on 5 March 2014 with the support of United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine. Financial support to the Mission is also provided by the Centre for Civil Liberties (Ukraine). The aims of the Mission are as follows: 

provision of information about the developments in Crimea;

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mitigation of threats of all parties to the conflict;

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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;

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provision of comprehensive assistance to the initiatives aimed at the protection of human rights of all participants of the conflict.

Emphasising 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;

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

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

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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 organisations 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, socioeconomic 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). A quarterly analytical report on the situation with human rights in Crimea will be prepared on the basis of monthly reviews. The CFM is grateful to everyone who assisted with the preparation of the present Review. The opinions, positions, and assessment contained in this Review do not necessarily represent the position of the United Nations Development Programme, other UN Agencies or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

ІI. PROBLEMS OF THE RESIDENTS OF CRIMEA 2.1. CIVI L AND POLITICAL RIGHTS RIGHT TO LIFE So far, there is no information about the stage of investigation of murders of Reshat Ametov (the body was found on 15 March), Ukrainian Navy major Stanislav Karachevskyi (murdered on 6 April) and 16-year old Mark Ivaniuk (murdered on 20 April) committed previously on the territory of Crimea. The perpetrators in these crimes are not criminally prosecuted. It may invoke the feeling of impunity in law enforcement officials and representatives of “Crimean Self-Defence” and might lead to new casualties. RIGHT TO FREEDOM AND PERSONAL IMMUNITY The bodies that position themselves as the authorities of Crimea and law enforcement authorities do not ensure the protection of the right to freedom and personal immunity. So far, the prosecutor’s office and law enforcement authorities of Crimea did not furnish any information about the status and level of investigation of abduction of activists committed in March. Ukrainian film director Pavlo Iurov and curator Denys Hryshchuk have been reported missing since 27 April. Several cases of abduction that are inter-connected took place in May. Since 22 May, one of the activists of public interest group “Ukrainian People’s Home” Leonid Korzh (born in 1990) disappeared from his residence and could not be established any contact with. This information was reported on 25 May by one of the leaders of “Ukrainian People’s Home” Timur Shaimardanov at the meeting with a pastor of faith-based organization “Army of Salvation” in Simferopol. According to his partner wife, on the next day, 26 May, Timur Shaimardanov himself did not return home and did not answer to phone calls. Any relative or friend had never seen him since this day. Seiran Zinedinov (born in 1977) was one of the coordinators to search for missing activists. At the meeting with the wife of Timur Shaimardanov on 30 May he informed that he had reasons to believe that both activists were kidnapped by the representatives of “Crimean Self-Defence”. After this meeting, Seiran Zinedinov did not return home as well. His mobile phone was not answering since. The Crimean Field Mission came to know that one of video cameras recorded Seiran Zinedinov being forcefully put into a car, but it is impossible to recognize the car number on a video. All the tree missing individuals were active participants of peaceful assemblies in favour of unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and provided assistance to Ukrainian military troops while the latter were being blocked (during February-March). The cases of abduction were committed within a short time and are interconnected. It gives reasons to believe that these crimes were politically motivated. It is currently impossible to obtain any information about the respective investigation of abduction of individuals from the law enforcement authorities. The Crimean Field Mission has also learned about the disappearance of Vasyl Chernysh (born in 1978), Maidan activist who resided in Sevastopol. According to his relatives, he was a former officer of the Security Service of Ukraine, he openly supported the ideas of Maidan and was speaking only Ukrainian in Sevastopol. There is no contact with Vasyl since 15 March. His relatives reported Vasyl missing to the law enforcement authorities of Ternopil (a city where his closest relatives reside). But the relatives consider that he could be a victim of crimes committed by “Crimean Self-Defence”. At the forum of a Sevastopol-homed web-site “Sevastopol Political Forum”, different people posted information containing the full names of Ukrainian activists who reside in Sevastopol, their place of residence or place of residence of their relatives. Moreover, the calls to use violence against Ukrainian activists of Sevastopol were published there. After making this public, all this information was completely deleted from this forum.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION The vast majority of violations of the freedom of speech and expression committed in May concerned the organization of public events on 18 May in commemoration of the deportation of Crimean Tatars from the peninsula in 1944. The representatives of “Crimean Self-Defence” have repeatedly hampered the activities of journalists – exemplified by illegal detention and destruction of journalists’ equipment. In particular, on the eve and on the Day of Deportation of Crimean Tatars, the Crimean Field Mission documented two cases of damaging the recording equipment, four cases of seizure of the equipment and five cases of unlawful detention. News photographer of the “Crimean Telegraph” newspaper was detained by the representatives of “Crimean Self-Defence” when he was recording a story about the manoeuvres of Special Police force on the eve of anniversary of Crimean Tatars deportation from the peninsula. The resolution of the Prosecutor’s General Office of RF was sent to the editor of informational agency QHA that requested to remove from the newsfeed the information report about anti-governmental rally that to take place in Russia on 18 May. Officers of Federal Security Service on groundless reasons were detaining a group of journalists for some hours: Vaclav Radzivinovich, Moscow-based staff reporter of Polish newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza” Nikolayi Semena, Crimea-based staff reporter of the newspaper “Day” and photo reporter Lenara Abibulayeva. They were brought to the Department of Federal Security Service in Simferopol, and deprived of the opportunity to make a phone call. They were interrogated without any explanations and released in 6 hours. On 18 May, the anniversary Day of the Deportation, the “Crimean Self-Defence” has detained a Crimean Tatar journalist Osman Pashayev, Turkish cameraman Cengiz Kizgin and some other mass media professionals (3 individuals). They were illegally detained in the premises of “Crimean Self-Defence” office for some hours, threated by a physical violence and suffered from psychological and physical pressure. A part of their equipment and personal belongings (in total amounting to UAH 70 000) were stolen. After that, all the detainees were transferred to police officers, who interrogated them for a long time, not allowing an attorney take part into interrogations. All the detainees were later released. On the same day 18 May, when a journalist of Russian TV-Channel “Dozhd” (“Rain”) made shooting at the central square of Simferopol city, the representatives of “Crimean Self-Defence” requested to delete the video footage. The journalist complied with their demands, but still was forcefully brought to the “Crimean Self-Defence” office where he suffered physical violence, and his shooting equipment was damaged. After the illegal detention and groundless interrogation, the journalist was released. In addition to the facts listed above, the representatives of “Crimean Self-Defence” have repeatedly prohibited to shoot videos at threatening to use violence against the journalists or damage the equipment. In order to put pressure on the journalists and editors of Crimean media editions with a view to restrict the freedom of speech, Crimean authorities allow themselves to use the loose definition of provision of the Russian legislations, in particular, Law of RF #114-FL as of 25.07.2002 “On Combating Extremist Activities” and Article 280/1 of the Law of RF #433-FL as of 28.12.2013 “On Introducing Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation” that affected on 9 May 2014. In particular, the editor-in-chief of the Crimean Tatar newspaper “Avdet” Shevket Kaybullayev received a summon from the prosecutor’s office of Simferopol city within the framework of investigation of the violation of the Law of RF #114-FL as of 25.07.2002 “On Combating Extremist Activities”. According to the Law of RF #433-FL as of 28.12.2013 “On Introducing Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation”, such slogans as, for example, “Crimea is Ukraine”, discussions and appeals about the integrity of Ukraine, including those disseminated in the social networks and in the Internet, may become grounds for criminal prosecution with regard to the individuals who publish or announce such slogans or appeals. Another manifestation of the restriction of freedom of speech in Crimea is the request to redo the registration of mass media outlets in line with the provisions of Russian law.

According to the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine of 15 May 2014), “After the enactment of the legislation of the Russian Federation, difficult times come for Crimean media outlets. All the outlets have to undergo re-registration. One of the alleged problems that should be verified is that there is an unofficial request: to redo the registration, an editor-in-chief of the outlet should be a citizen of the Russian Federation”. FREEDOM OF PEA CEFU L ASSEMBLY The Crimean Field Mission records that the enjoyment of freedom of peaceful assembly has deteriorated. On 3 May, Member of Parliament of Ukraine, ex-Head of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Mustafa Dzhemilev made an attempt to enter Crimea through the “Turetskyi Val” checkpoint in Armiansk. His arrival, however, was blocked by the Russian Special Forces and “Crimean Self-Defence”. In response to the unlawful prevention to Mustafa Dzhemilev from entering Crimea in Armiansk, Crimean Tatars tried to break the defensive line at the checkpoint to provide an opportunity for their leader to enter the territory of Crimea. Nevertheless, the Prosecutor’s Office of Crimea envisaged this action as a crime. Prosecutor of Crimea Nataliya Poklonskaya issued an order to Investigative Committee and the Federal Security Service “for the launching a criminal prosecution with regard to persons guilty under Articles 212, 318 and 322 of the Criminal Code of RF” – on mass riots, use of force against the officials and illegal state border crossing. Mr. Dzhemilev expressed his concerns with regard to prosecution of the Crimean Tatars who took part in the protest actions by the Crimean authorities. On 16 May, the Decree issued by the Prime-Minister of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov prohibited all mass events on the territory of Crimean until 6 June, including the mourning ceremonies on the occasion of 70th anniversary of the deportation of Crimean Tatars (see Annex 1). Mr. Aksyonov motivated his decision in the following way: “With a view to the developments that take place in many cities of southern and eastern parts of Ukraine that lead to casualties and injuries of civil peaceful population, and in order to prevent possible provocations on the part of extremists seeking opportunities to enter the territory of Republic of Crimea, and to avoid the disruption of a resort season in the Republic of Crimea, ban any mass events on the territory of the Republic of Crimea until 6 June 2014”. In addition to this ban, the presence of Russian military troops, law enforcement officers and military equipment was enhanced before 18 May, the day of deportation of Crimean Tatars (video). Crimean Tatars had to alter the pre-planned routes of mourning processions and carry out events of a smaller scale outside public places. Video documentary by the Crimean Field Mission expert of 18 May 2014. Significant disparities in the Ukrainian and Russian laws spelling out the right to peaceful assembly is another difficulty to enjoy the freedom of peaceful assembly. Ukrainian legislation provides for notification procedure for the organization of peaceful assembly – a mere notification of the respective executive authority suffices. There is no procedure to obtain approval and permit. No special law on the freedom of assembly was adopted in Ukraine, the respective right is granted by Article 39 of the Constitution of Ukraine. According to this Article, it is only the court that can revert this right. Russian legislation sets forth an authorization-based procedure of the organization of peaceful assembly. However, the provisions of Russian legislation in Crimea are applied selectively. For example, it was forbidden to carry out a mourning event and conference “World Bekira Choban Zade”, but it was allowed to organize a festival “Crimean Tulumbasy” or the “Holi” festival of painting. The decisions can be appealed in the Appellate Court of the Republic of Crimea. The appeals were submitted, but have not been considered so far. There is no NGOs or lawyers specialized in the protection of the freedom of peaceful assembly in Crimea. Almost all of them had to flee the peninsula due to the threats of politically motivated prosecution or impossibility to continue their professional activities.

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIA TIONS The Crimean Field Mission records the discriminatory approach of Crimean authorities in terms of the enjoyment of the freedom of association by residents of the peninsula. First of all, these are Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian associations that suffer from such discrimination. After the events in Armiansk when Crimean Tatars tried to breach the troops blocking the entrance of Mustafa Dzhemilev into Crimea, the prosecutor of Crimea Nataliya Poklonskaya issued a warning to the Head of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Refat Chubarov on 4 May in the premises of Mejlis. In particular, the prosecutor said: “I warn Refat Chubarov, the Head of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, about the prohibition of the extremist activities. I clarify that if violation of federal law of Russian Federation referred to in this warning is not discontinued, in line with the Law of RF #114-FL as of 25.07.2014 “On Combating Extremist Activities” the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People will be eliminated and its activities on the territory of Russian Federation will be prohibited”. On 5 May, the attorney of Refat Chubarov Teyfuk Gafarov was not able to obtain the copy of warning “on the prohibition of the extremist activities” that is necessary for submitting an appeal. The prosecutor’s office of Crimea refused to provide such copy to the attorney, questioning the signature of Refat Chubarov on the attorney agreement. The attorney denies allegations. Deterioration of this situation may lead to elimination of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People. Ex-Head of Mejlis M.Dzhemilev supposes that in such circumstances the activities of Mejlis may become clandestine or semi-clandestine. Another group that suffers from discrimination in the realm of freedom of associations is related to Ukrainian civic initiatives. Three representatives of the public interest group “Ukrainian People’s Home” were adbucted. It manifests the direct physical hindrance to setting up and running the activities of Ukrainian civil initiatives. Article 10 of the Constitution of Republic of Crimea provides for three state languages: Russian, Ukrainian, and Crimean Tatar. It also sets forth the principle of diversity and equitable development of the cultures. Violation of the freedom of assembly and associations deprives certain groups of Crimean residents a possibility to stand for and protect their social, economic and cultural rights. FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND RELIGION There were five parishes of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) in Crimea. Many representatives of these parishes provided support to Ukrainian military troops in February-March. The representatives of Greek Catholic communities started to receive the threats of prosecution and elimination of parishes. The abbot of Yalta Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church has already fled Crimea due to well-grounded concerns of a politically motivated prosecution. The Head of UGCC Sviatoslav has reported the onsets of Russian propaganda calling Greek Catholic community “radical nationalists” that might provoke the aggression against them. Greek Catholic priests still stay at the peninsula waiting for clarification of the legal status of UGCC in Crimea. Rabbi of the communities of progressive Judaism of Simferopol and Ukraine Mikhail Kapustin with his family fled Crimea. Before that, unknown persons have painted fylfot and written down insulting words on the doors and front of synagogue Ner-Tamid. Pastor of Crimean branch of the “Army of Salvation” Ruslan Zuyev has notified that the representatives of Protestant religious movements in Crimea are under the pressure. He personally receives regular threats over the phone, some people promised to burn out the premises of religious organization. According to him, they also request that the representatives of American Baptist movement flee Crimea. The Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea Klyment continues to inform about the threats and prosecution of the representatives of Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate in Crimea. The above-mentioned facts of pressure prevent people of certain religious denominations to collectively and publicly practice their religion and to administer religious or cultural ceremonies. It is a violation of the freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT All citizens of Ukraine, who are not registered as the residents of Crimea are mandated to fill in an immigration card at Russian state border in Crimea. Their status is set forth by Federal Law #115-FL as of 25.07.2002 (last edited on 05.05.2014) “On Legal Status of the Foreigners in the Russian Federation.” It causes difficulties for students who live in Crimea but study in various regions of Ukraine. They are temporarily registered in student hostels, but their main place of residence and their relatives remain in Crimea. Therefore they should have the right to freely enter Crimean peninsula and stay there as long as they wish. At the same time, the Russian legislation restricts their movement setting forth their status as foreigners. Citizens of Ukraine are obliged to paste in a new photo in their passports when they are 25 and 45, otherwise the passport is invalid. Citizens of Ukraine who reside in Crimea can obtain the respective services only outside Crimea (in Ukraine’s mainland), because the executive authorities of Ukraine cannot operate on the territory of peninsula. To obtain passport services in order to extend the validity of passport of a citizen of Ukraine, residents of Crimea are to leave Crimea and cross the Russian state border. But Russian administration does not allow them to cross Russian border to go to Ukraine’s mainland because their passport is not valid (the respective new photo is not pasted in). Therefore, such residents of Crimea who do not have a foreign travel passport or passport of the RF (many of them in fact refuse to receive passports of the RF) cannot leave Crimea. The same concerns the citizens of Ukraine, who lost their passports. Since 18 May, the Crimean Field Mission receives complaints from the citizens of Ukraine who reside in Crimea and try to go to Ukraine’s mainland. At the administrative border of Ukraine in Melitopol, the officers of Border Guard Service of Ukraine referring to telegram #16 requested that the citizens provide documents to prove their motivation to go the Ukraine’s mainland regions (official invitations, business trip authorizations, appointment cards to a doctors, etc.) Such requirements are in conflict with the Article 10 of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and on the Legal Status of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine” and violate the freedom of movement. According to Ukrainian legislation, citizens of Ukraine who reside in Crimea have to provide only a passport of a citizen of Ukraine to go from Crimea to other regions of Ukraine. These violations were made known to public by Kyiv office of the Crimean Field Mission. The CFM submitted a request demanding to stop such illegal actions of the officers of Border Guard Service of Ukraine. RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL A ND EFFICIENT MEA NS OF LEGAL PROTECTION There is a problem of violation of the right to fair trail and efficient means of legal protection in Crimea. In May, it is best exemplified by the cases of Oleh Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko. Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov was detained on 10 May. The officers of FSS conducted a search at his place of residence suspecting him of the organization of terrorist act and storage of weapons. Oleh Sentsov is a Ukrainian film director who was a Maidan activist and openly protested against the annexation of Crimea. On 16 May, Oleksandr Kolchenko was arrested in Simferopol downtown. He is also suspected of organization of a terrorist act. Oleksandr Kolchenko is a civil activist, participant of left and anti-fascist movement, organization and participant of civic campaigns and actions aiming at the protection of rights of students and employees, and the environmental actions. He also took part in the actions against the occupation of Crimea. After the detention of O.Sentsov and O.Kolchenko, they were not notified about the charges; the investigation officers do not allow Oleh and Oleksandr to meet their attorney and thus deprive them of the right to efficient means of legal protection. On 23 May, officers of the Federal Security Service of Russian Federation convoyed the citizens of Ukraine Oleh Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko to pre-trial detention centre of Moscow. The relatives were notified that the detainees are convoyed to carry out expert assessments. It is not known how much time it will take, but the term of their detention may drag on to one year.

On 30 May, the FSS of Russia stated that its officers detained the members of raiding terrorist group of the “Right Sector” (“Pravyi Sector”) on the territory of the Republic of Crimea. Allegedly, the group tried to organize terrorist acts in Simferopol, Yalta and Sevastopol cities. The Investigative department of the FSS of Russia started investigating the criminal case with regard to O.Sentsov, H.Afanasiev, A.Chirnii, and O.Kolchenko for an offence under part 2 of Article 205 (terrorist act), part 2 of Article 205.4 (organization of terrorist community and taking part in it), and part 3 of Article 222 (illegal arms traffic) of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation. Allegedly, they were part of terrorist community and prepared a terrorist act – explosions of the self-made explosive devices close to the Memorial of Eternal Light and V.I.Lenin monument in Simferopol city, and burn outs of the offices of NGO “Russian Community of Crimea” and office of the political party “Edinaya Rossiya” (“United Russia”) overnight into 9 May 2014. At the same time, all the four detainees are not affiliated with the group “Right Sector”. They are activists of the movement against the occupation and annexation of Crimea. The attorneys of detainees refuse to provide the information about the investigation and make any comments referring to the gagging order on the details of investigation. The FSS of Russia informs that the detainees give their confessions. But the relatives and friends notify about the tortures against the detainees and psychological pressure aimed at obtaining the confession. Whereas all the detainees were open and active supporters of the integrity of Ukraine, the judicial proceedings in Moscow are likely to be biased and won’t be public and impersonal. The detainees are deprived of the possibility to prepare their line of defence, to interrogate witnesses, who give evidence against them, and to summon and interrogate the witnesses in favour of them on the same conditions as the witnesses against them. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine requested that Russia promptly released the film director O.Sentsov, and to stop the violations of human rights of Ukrainian citizens in Crimea. The authorities of RF did not make any official statements with regard to detention of the activists. The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine voiced a strong protest against the detention of Ukrainian citizens by the Federal Security Service of Russian Federation and violation of their constitutional rights. Ukrainian consul was not admitted to Oleh Sentsov, who remains in detention. Another incident that should be mentioned with regard to violation of the right to fair trail and efficient means of legal protection is detention of Osman Pashayev. Osman Pashayev, who is a journalist, was detained by “Crimean Self-Defence” together with a cameraman and a number of other journalists in Simferopol downtown on 18 May when they covered the mourning events on the occasion of 70th anniversary of deportation of the Crimean Tatar people. First, they were brought to the office of “Crimean Self-Defence” at 26, Kirova ave, then to the Central district police department at Futbolistov str. The attorneys were not allowed to see them, and the records of detention were not completed. All the detainees were released in 10 hours. These actions towards the journalists are a grossest violation of human rights. Osman Pashayev is about to address the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine and Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia on prosecution of those guilty in illegal actions towards mass media professionals. On 29 May, the Head of Investigative Committee of the RF Aleksandr Bastrykin informed that Russia will send over 400 investigators to Crimea, 107 of them will be sent to Sevastopol. Strengthening of police supervision at the practical level may lead to repressions against those who are not loyal to Russia and who openly voices their protests against the occupation of peninsula rather than to combating the crime. COURT P ROCEEDINGS According to Article 9 of the Federal Constitutional Law of the RF #36-FL of 21.03.2014, before the courts of the Russian Federation are established on the territory of the Republic of Crimea and federal city of Sevastopol, the justice on behalf of the Russian Federation on these territories is executed by the courts, effective on the day of admission of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation and creating of new federal subjects of the Russian Federation. Individuals that occupy the positions of judges of these courts – if they are citizens of the Russian Federation – are to administer justice until the courts of Russian Federation are set up on these territories.

Currently, the justice on the territory of Crimea is executed by acting judges of Ukraine who did not discard the oath and are not divested of their authorities in line with procedure stipulated by the legislation of Ukraine. These judges gave an oath to Ukraine, but currently they administer justice according to material and procedural law of the RF, which is a violation of the oath. Therefore, at the moment the justice in AR of Crimea and Sevastopol city is administered under double jurisdiction: the RF and Ukraine. According to the Law of Ukraine “On Occupied Territories”, all the disputes on civil cases, administrative suits and criminal proceedings are to be considered in Kyiv. On the other hand, the courts established by Ukraine are still functioning in Crimea, and the Constitutional Law on Accession of Crimea of the RF imposed on these courts the functions on executing justice. It is necessary to assess whether these courts can be considered as complying with the requirements of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in terms of “a tribunal established by law”. At a first approximation, this situation does not violate this requirement, whereas a similar issue was considered by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Cyprus cases. Appeals that were admitted for consideration by the respective appellate courts acting on the territory of AR of Crimea and Sevastopol city on the day of accession to the RF, the judgment on which was not made by this day, shall be considered pursuant to the respective procedural legislation of the RF, Code of Administrative Offences of the RF. In fact, the appellate courts of Crimea are now re-considering the judgments of first-instance courts made in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine pursuant to the rules and requirements established by the substantive law of the RF. For sure, this law was never applied by the first-instance courts when the respective judgments were issued. In particular, not a single case was sent to the mainland after 16 March 2014, and the cases are reconsidered by the courts acting under the jurisdiction of the RF. At that, there are no transitional provisions to synchronize both processes. Thus, for example, it may so happen that the judgment may be reversed due to the fact that certain issue is within the jurisdiction of other court (for instance, civil case can fall under the jurisdiction of arbitral tribunal), although there was no such discrepancy before that. Another example is the violation of Ukrainian procedural law that would entail particular consequences for the judgment issued by lower court – in some cases Russian procedural law may not provide for such violations at all. It is also worth noting that there is a number of regulatory provisions in the law of Ukraine and the RF that do not coincide. It also stipulates a significant violation of the right to defence. Some problems arose in criminal proceedings. In addition to discrepancy of procedural provisions, the difference of substantive law makes a considerable impact both on the position in criminal cases and on the possibility to protect from the accusation. In particular, after the adoption of new Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine in 2012, the philosophy of criminal proceedings underwent a comprehensive change. The synchronization of these processes in Ukraine and the RF became a very complicated issue. The legislation of RF does not contain respective provisions. For example, one area of concern is Article 7 of the ECHR – a criminal offence under national law. According to part 3 of Article 12 of the Criminal Code of the RF, an offence committed outside of the boundaries of RF shall not be considered to be a crime, unless it counters the interests of the Russian Federation or a citizen of the RF is a victim. Nevertheless, the prosecutors of Crimea were instructed by the law to re-qualify the accusation in line with the Criminal Code of RF. The issue of the legitimacy of detention of persons who were detained under the jurisdiction of Ukraine is left in abeyance. Although the international standards remain the same, the provisions of national law of the two countries in this regard differ significantly. It led to more severe approach to the judgments in Crimea. At the same time, the courts rule on extension of detention that was imposed under the jurisdiction of Ukraine instead of issuing formal judgment on the pre-trial restriction according to the law of RF. In other words, the courts of Crimea could opt out for new measures of restraint, but they are not authorized to extend those measures that were imposed under another jurisdiction and with regard to other qualification. The ECHR considers cases of Crimean applicants. There is a case on which the judgment of ECHR was issued (Rudnichenko v. Ukraine), and with regard to which a proceeding to review a judgment was initiated within the framework of application of individual measures. But whereas it took place in February, the case was not referred to the mainland. Therefore, the RF is raising obstacles to application of individual measures by Ukraine. Mass incidents are documented when the decisions of local self-government bodies that were established and functional at the peninsula pursuant to the legislation of Ukraine undergo the judicial review in 10

accordance with the law of the RF (it concerns the reversal of decisions on issuing permits and approval of the drafts of allotments of privately owned or rented land plots, reversal of decisions on the transfer of the title to real estate, etc.) In early May 2014, the President of Russia introduced into the State Duma of Russian Federation a package of four bills to regulate the establishment of judicial system in the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol city, inter alia: “On Establishment of the Courts of Russian Federation on the territory of the Republic of Crimea and Federal City of Sevastopol”, “On the Procedure of Selection of Applicants to Preliminary Composition of the Federal Courts, Established on the territory of Republic of Crimea and Federal City of Sevastopol”, and “On the Bodies of Judicial Community of the Republic of Crimea and Federal City of Sevastopol”. Therefore, there is a process to bring the court and judges of Crimea in line with the effective legislation of the RF. The issue of ensuring the enjoyment of right to justice by the residents of occupied territories is partially resolved by Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and on the Legal Status of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine ”. Unfortunately, the provisions of this Law do not provide for the comprehensive access to justice for citizens who reside on the territory of Crimea and want to protect their rights under the legislation of Ukraine. A clear plan of action for both citizens and judges is still lacking. In particular, a number of problems persist: transfer of materials of court cases to the respective courts of Ukraine’s mainland; sending summons and other procedural documents to Crimea (this issue is partially resolved by the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine); and virtual impossibility to execute the decisions of Ukrainian courts on the territory of peninsula. Thus, for the time being there are no courts in Crimea entrusted with powers to execute justice pursuant to the effective legislation of Ukraine. Whereas the decision of Ukrainian courts are actually not executed in peninsula, the citizens in the occupied territory are forced to address or continue the consideration of cases initiated before in the courts that operate in Crimea pursuant to the Federal Constitutional Law of the RF as of 21.03.2014. Herein, the citizens sometimes are not well aware and ready to deal with the significant differences between Ukrainian and Russian laws. ISS UES RELATED T O C ITIZENSHIP There is neither separate procedure of obtaining a resident permit in Crimea that the citizens of Ukraine, who submitted applications on the preservation of Ukrainian citizenship, could benefit from;nor the respective clarifications by Federal Migration Service of Russia. Such citizens are afraid that in 90 days after submission of these applications they will be expelled from the territory of Crimea as foreigners. A significant number of Crimean residents are individuals who stay there for a long time, possess real estate and are employed in the peninsula. At the same time, they are not registered in Crimea but in Ukraine’s mainland. The Federal Migration Service of Russia refused to provide Russian passports to these citizens under the simplified procedure, stating that only Crimean residents who are registered in Crimea are eligible to such procedure. Such residents of Crimea are to undergo a standard procedure of Russian citizenship (as usual foreigners). Students who live in other regions of Ukraine but study in higher educational institutions of Crimea are being forced either to obtain Russian passports or to pay for their education as foreigners on the territory of RF. Such requirement violates the right to selection of citizenship and of place of residence. Ukraine in Article 5 of the Law “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and on the Legal Status of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine ” as of 15.04.2014 stated that the forced automatic acquisition of Russian citizenship by Ukrainian citizens who reside in the temporarily occupied territory shall not be acknowledged by Ukraine and shall not be the ground for the loss of citizenship of Ukraine. Therefore, the citizens of Ukraine who automatically acquired the citizenship of RF continue to be the citizens of Ukraine. According to the same Law, Ukraine shall not deem valid the documents including passports that are issued on the territory of Crimea and they do not entail legal implications. There is a problem with drawing up of foreign travel passports. For the time being, the system of production, drawing up and control of passport and visa documents including foreign travel passports is not set up on the territory of Crimea. With this view, the residents of Crimea who obtained Russian citizenship cannot draw up the foreign travel passport on the territory of Crimea (see Annex 2). They have to address the closest office 11

of the Department of Federal Migration Service of Russia in other federal subjects of the Federation. The closest offices are located in Krasnodar Kray, in Anapa and Temryuk towns. The citizens of Ukraine who reside in Crimea can draw up foreign travel passport and obtain any other passport service in any office of the Migration Service of Ukraine outside Crimea. POLITICAL RIGHTS The citizens of Ukraine who reside on the territory of Crimea do not have the opportunity to enjoy their electoral rights, whereas it is impossible to organize electoral process for Ukrainian citizens in Crimea. According to Article 8 of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and on the Legal Status of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine ”, during the elections of the President of Ukraine, Members of Parliament of Ukraine and All-Ukrainian Referendum voting of Ukrainian citizens in the temporarily occupied territory is not organized and carried out. Such citizens may enjoy the opportunities of free voting during the elections of the President of Ukraine, Members of Parliament of Ukraine and AllUkrainian Referendum in Ukraine’s mainland. In order to be eligible to enjoy the electoral right during the elections of the President of Ukraine on 25 May in other regions of Ukraine, the citizens of Ukraine residing in Crimea had to change the place of voting by 19 May. Notwithstanding, not all citizens of Crimea had opportunity to leave Crimea two times for enjoyment of their electoral rights. According to Central Election Committee of Ukraine, 6 038 Crimean residents expressed their will to vote at the elections of the President of Ukraine (1 587 of them were residents of Sevastopol). At that, the majority of Crimean residents wanted to vote in Kyiv (1 483) and Kyiv region (442). 800 other Crimean people changed their location of voting to Odesa region, 763 – to Mykolaiv region, 388 – to Kherson region, 379 – to Lviv region, 272 – to Donetsk region, 248 – to Kharkiv region, and 234 – to Zaporizzhia region. In other regions the number of Crimean residents who wanted to change their place of voting does not exceed 200. 2.2. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RI GHTS PROPERTY RIGHT S The State Duma of the RF is considering a draft law on creating a special economic zone (SEZ) in Crimea that was introduced by the Ministry of Economic Development of the RF. This draft law provides for the accelerated mode of land expropriation. According to the draft law, the entire Crimea shall become the special economic zone for 49 years. The residents of SEZ will enjoy tax and customs preferences and beneficial access to infrastructure. To develop this infrastructure, it is necessary to expropriate lands and real estate. The draft law of the Ministry of Economic Development proposes to expropriate lands both from lessee and the owners. The authorities shall inform the owner in seven days after the respective decision is made. The owner has three months to agree on the amount of compensation, otherwise the land plot will be expropriated through the court. The owner has 10 days to challenge the court judgment – it is a very short time even according to the law of the RF. In Russian law in a general way one year is provided for notification about a expropriation, and challenging of court judgments is not limited in terms of time at all. But the very short periods of time are proposed for Crimea. Enactment of such law will entail the violation of the property rights of Crimean residents. In particular, the rights and means of protection of the property of individuals who renounced from the citizenship of the RF will be restricted. It is a common case in Crimea that the borders of neighbour land plots overlap, therefore the interests of several owners will be infringed during the expropriation of a single land plot. Whereas the courts on the territory of Crimea apply the legislative provisions of the RF, they started to review the judgments of Ukrainian courts. It led to multiple incidents when the decisions of local selfgovernment bodies that were established and functional at the peninsula pursuant to the legislation of Ukraine undergo the judicial review in accordancewith the law of the RF. As a result, the judgments on the decisions on issuing permits and approval of the drafts of allotments of privately owned or rented land plots, the decisions on the transfer of the title to real estate, etc. are reversed.

As far back as in March the Vice-Prime-Minister of AR of Crimea Rustam Temirgaliyev made a statement about the “nationalization” of state property, which is managed by higher educational institutions and located on the territory of Crimea (statement as of 06.03.2014). By May, this property was nationalized by Crimean authorities. These actions contradict withthe principles of international law and the Vienna Convention on the Succession of States in Respect of State Property, Archives and Debts, whereas the independence of AR of Crimea is not acknowledged by the international community and is objected by Ukraine. The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine envisages the activities of the Russian Federation aimed at “nationalization” of the branches of higher educational institutions of Ukraine’s mainland that are located in Crimea as a major breach of the sovereign rights of Ukraine and the rights to legitimate property. Due to the ban of hryvnia circulation on the territory of Crimea, the residents were limited in the use of their property – money. According to the Federal Constitutional Law #7-FCL as of 27.05.2014 “On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Constitutional Law “On the Admission of the Republic of Crimea and Establishment of the New Federal Subjects of the Russian Federation – Republic of Crimea and Federal City of Sevastopol” (approved by the Council of Federation of the RF on 21.05.2014), the amendments were introduced to Article 16. In particular, the circulation of hryvnia – national currency of Ukraine shall be terminated by 1 June 2014 (in previous version, the deadline was 1 January 2016). Therefore, the population learned that the currency used for the majority of savings, payments in all grocery stores and basic consumer goods won’t be in a free circulation four days before the termination of circulation of hryvnia as the second main currency in the peninsula. When discussing the violations of property rights, it is also necessary to mention journalists whose photo and video cameras and other technical equipment was repeatedly withdrawn or damaged by the representatives of “Crimean Self-Defence”. These representatives did not incur responsibility for these illegal actions so far. REGISTRATION OF RIGH TS Clear clarifications of the RF with regard to title of Crimean residents to real estate are still lacking. Crimean residents were notified that they should undergo re-registration of the title, when Russian registers of property rights are opened. But the latter are not opened in Crimea so far. Ukraine acknowledges the acquisition and termination of the property rights to real estate located on the territory of Crimea only in case if it is administered under the law of Ukraine outside temporarily occupied territory. In case if the state registrar has no opportunity to execute his powers on state registration of the rights to real estate and their restrictions in the temporarily occupied territory, the body of state registration shall be determined by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Any transaction with the real estate including land plots in the temporarily occupied territory that is concluded in breach of Ukrainian legislation is deemed invalid ab initio and does not create legal consequences, except for those related to its invalidity. Therefore, the residents of Crimea suffer from legal collision that actually deprives them of opportunity to conclude purchase and sale transactions of their real estate. The vast majority of purchasers of real estate in Crimea are the citizens of the RF who acknowledge the transactions on the territory of Crimea under the legislation of Ukraine. The majority of sellers are citizens of Ukraine, who consider legitimate the transaction concluded outside Crimea and under Ukrainian legislation. BANKING SY STEM The branches of Ukrainian banks ceased their operation in Crimea due to the occupation and impossibility to ensure the security of their employees and bank deposits. Approximately 850 branches were operating in Crimea before the occupation. Currently, there are some 150 branches of Russian banks: RNKBank, Krayinvestbank, Genbank, and Justbank. Chernomorskiy Bank of Development and Reconstruction (CBDR) continues its operation in Crimea as well. These branches are not enough to provide services to the residents of Crimea. In addition, these banks first of all cooperate with legal entities rather than with private persons. The majority of these branches does not issue credit cards and have not established ATMs in Crimea. In order to obtain their deposits in Ukrainian branches, the residents of Crimea have to go to Ukraine’s mainland. Utility bills and tax payments are generally operated through CDRD and post officers, but the lines to its branches are enormous, people get in line on the night. Many legal entities are not able to execute financial transactions and pay taxes since 13

March. Post offices are also used to operate administration of social payments and pensions (in roubles), which also leads to huge lines. Since 1 June, the Crimean authorities ban the circulation of hryvnia in Crimea, although it was announced previously that double circulation of rouble and hryvnia will take place by 1 January 2016. With this view, the residents of Crimea on a massive scale exchange their hryvnias to roubles. But whereas banking activities in Crimea have almost stopped, Crimean residents have to go to currency exchange offices that establish nonmarket and unprofitable currency rate. Moreover, they charge 10% commission for each and every transaction. Closure of branches of Ukrainian banks led to unemployment of huge number of individuals. They cannot register in the employment centres due to large number of unemployed persons. FREEDOM OF ENTREPRISE The business entities have to undergo re-registration and receive the license documents in accordance with Russian legislation. But such re-registration may take place only if an entrepreneur has a Russian passport, which is a violation of the freedom of enterprise. Ukrainian enterprisers who do not undergo the re-registration are requested to provide a document confirming that they ceased economic activities or continue to carry out economic activities outside Crimea. If they do not provide such documents, taxes will be charged from them according to Russian legislation. Under the law of Ukraine, in order to change the location of individual entrepreneur it is necessary to obtain the registration of new place of residence in other region of Ukraine. But Crimea citizens are not able to do this, whereas their real estate is in Crimea and they do not have a place to live in Ukraine’s mainland. Therefore, they cannot re-register their business outside Crimea and might suffer from the sanctions imposed by Crimean authorities. Many entrepreneurs are to cease their activities due to two most widespread reasons: 1) they had strong economic ties with Ukraine’s mainland, 2) their business was related to vacation season, and the vacation season is almost completely lost in Crimea in 2014. Starting from 26 May, Crimean authorities limited the export of food products from Crimea to Ukraine and to other federal subjects of the Russian Federation. The respective decision is made by the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food of the Republic of Crimea. Amendments were introduced to part 5 of Article 16 of the Federal Constitutional Law #7-FCL as of 27.05.2014 “On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Constitutional Law “On the Admission of the Republic of Crimea and Establishment of the New Federal Subjects of the Russian Federation – Republic of Crimea and Federal City of Sevastopol” that basically restrict (ban) all noncash transfers related to business activities since 1 June 2014. LABOUR RIGHTS The Crimean Field Missions documented the cases of discrimination in the realm of labour rights. Due to the refusal from Russian citizenship, an employee of one of Russian schools is forced to voluntarily retire. The same concerns one of the employees of the chain of hypermarkets “Epicentre”. Russian citizens who come from other regions of Russia are appointed to managerial positions of the enterprises and organizations. Due to the closure of the branches of Ukrainian banks and other Ukrainian companies and due to the change of market outlets in Crimea, many residents of Crimea lost their jobs and are trying to register at the employment centres for several weeks already. Loss of vacation season will lead to a significant decrease of the income of resort towns and villages. The increase of unemployment and reduction of incomes of the citizens of Crimea might invoke social and economic crisis. The Ministry of Labour of the RF carried out a monitoring and stated that some 32 thousand people may lose their jobs soon.

Deputy Head of the Ministry of Interior Affairs Sergey Chebotar has made a statement that 12 thousand law enforcement officers were fired in Crimea for oath breaking. But the majority of former MIA officers in Crimea continued working in law enforcement authorities of the RF. RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE The developments in Crimea resulted in the deteriorations in the realm of patients’ rights. There is an extreme shortage of medications to treat haemophilia patients. According to Russian medication company “Generium”, only 100 000 international units (IU) of blood clotting factor drugs will be available in Crimea for more than 100 of haemophilia patients. It is less than a standard of year consumption of such drugs by one patient in the Russian Federation. Therefore, the incidence of arthopathy (trophesy of joints) that need operative treatment is very high among the patients in Crimea. With this view, the programme of screening of haemophilia patients should be launched in Crimea to create a register of patients and identify the further actions needed. The representatives of Russian Federal Fund of Medical Insurance started to issue free medical insurances in Crimea. So far, there is only one office that issues such insurances located in Simferopol. They are issued only to those people who have the citizenship of the RF and the corresponding passport (birth certificate for children under 14). Thus, these are only citizens of the RF who will be eligible to free medical services in Crimea. OTHER Post The Order of the Federal Agency of Communication #61 as of 31 March 2014 “On Assigning Post Codes to Post Service Entities”, Russian post codes are introduced on the territory of Crimea. At the practical level, implementation of this order started in May. Systemic problems emerged in terms of post delivery to Crimea. In particular, the mailing that uses Ukrainian indices and indicates “AR of Crimea, Ukraine” is not delivered to the territory of peninsula and is sent back as such that indicates a wrong address. All official institutions, organizations and international bodies (for example, ECHR) do not officially recognize the annexation of Crimea and acknowledge that the peninsula was occupied. Therefore, they cannot indicate such address as “Crimea, RF” in their post correspondence, and consequently, the citizens on the territory of Crimea are basically deprived of regular post communication with Ukraine’s mainland and other countries (except for those that recognized the annexation).

2.3. POSI TION OF VULNERABLE GROUPS. MANI FESTATIONS OF XENOPHOBIA UKRA INIANS Ukrainians are a group that suffers from discrimination – first of all, it concerns the enjoyment of cultural rights and a right to education. In Simferopol secondary school #3 in in classes with the Ukrainian language of instruction, the classes are not taught in Ukrainian in recent weeks. The parents were informed that in the next year Ukrainian will be taught as an elective class. In Yalta High School #15 of with the Ukrainian language of instruction , classes taught in with Ukrainian will be substituted by the Russian language of instruction under the pressure of municipal department of education. According to the information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Crimea authorities are not going to consider the interests of Ukrainian community and won’t preserve the profile of Ukrainian High School as the only school institution with the Ukrainian language of instruction. According to the law of Ukraine, all students who studied in higher educational institutions (HEIs) of Crimea have the right to obtain Ukrainian diplomas. The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine requested from the presidents of Crimean HEIs to submit the lists of students who want to obtain Ukrainian diplomas. Nevertheless, the President of Taurida National University Nikolay Bagrov – according to the information of

from students – refused to compile and submit such lists. For the time being, the alumni of these Universities are deprived of the opportunity to obtain Ukrainian diplomas. In the list of specialties and training courses of higher education (approved under #1061 as of 12 September 2013) a number of specialties (Bachelor, Specialist and Master Students) are missing. It concerns such specialities as the Ukrainian language and literature, geography of Ukraine, etc. This poses severe complications for the alumni in terms of obtaining diplomas in Crimea. CRIMEAN TATARS Members of Mejlis are primary target for various types of harassment and pressure. . On 6 May, a member of Mejlis Abduraman Egiz suffered from an attack of 20 representatives of “Crimean Self-Defence”. Adburaman refused to present his passport to unidentified people in camouflage. For that, he and other Crimean Tatars who tried to protect him were beaten. On 15 May, the staff of Crimean Field Mission learned about the search in the residence of Shevkie Taymazova by the officers of Federal Security Service of Russia (FSS). They informed that their grandson, Enver Asanov, registered at this address, was a suspect to a felony, refusing to give out more specific information. The FSS press service in Crimea and Sevastopol refused to comment the situation. In addition, partners of the Crimean Field Mission in Simferopol reported that some 15 FSS officers raided the home of Ali Khamzin, head of the Mejlis Foreign Relations Administration. They asserted that the house was raided because Ali Khamzin’s business cards were supposedly found on members of “Pravyi Sektor”. At this moment, Khamzin was in Kyiv and his son, who also lives in the house, was summoned to the FSS on 16 May. On 24 May, the detachment of Special Police Force (“OMON”) broke into a night club of Zuya village. All visitors were searched; some people were brought to community police office where they were interrogated. According to witnesses, these were only the persons “of Tatar appearance” who were brought to police office. According to the relatives of an owner of the night club, the police did not press any charges. The head of charitable organization “Crimea Foundation” Riza Shevkiyev informed that Crimean Tatars could be deprived of the land plot with a facility in Simferopol where they planned to open a Crimean Tatar cultural centre and offices. In May, the prosecutor’s office launched an inspection of property registration office with regard to execution of sales contract and construction of Crimean Tatar cultural centre. It was banned to Any construction and investment works by the Organization were suspended before the judgment of the Court of Appeall. According to Mr. Shevkiyev, the Ministry of Culture voiced the threats that the building could be seized. The court delayed its judgment until late June. PERS ONS SERVING A SENTENCE The position of citizens of Ukraine who served a sentence in Crimea remains uncertain. Ukrainian organizations that performed monitoring of the prison setting are not able to come to Crimea with the monitoring missions. A Law “On the Amnesty” was adopted in Ukraine, according to which approximately 26 thousand citizens who did not commit grave offences would be released from prison. But there is a problem with regard to release of pardoned citizens in Crimea. 200 of 3 000 inmates in the penitentiary system in Crimea fall under the amnesty, but the Crimean authorities refuse to accept the terms and release them. Ukraine has submitted the first claims on behalf of the inmates to the European Court of Human Rights with regard to illegal detention of citizens. Ukraine expects that the ECHR will issue a judgment about the immediate release of illegally detained individuals.

III . PROBLEMS OF THE RESI DENTS OF CRIMEA WHO HAD TO FLEE THE PENINSULA AND MOVE TO CONTINENTAL UKRAINE (INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS) SOCIAL AND EC ONOMIC RIGH TS RIGHT TO EDUCA TION According to State Statistics Service of Ukraine, 26 higher educational institutions of 1st-4th accreditation level were operating within HEI of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. They included 7 Universities, 2 Academies, 2 Institutes, 7 colleges, 4 vocational schools, and 4 technical schools. Its student body comprises 45 thousand persons. In Sevastopol, there were 10 higher educational institutions, including 3 Universities, 1 Academy, 1 Institute, 1 college, 2 vocational schools, and 2 technical schools, with 14 700 students altogether. According to the information of presidents of HEI as of 5 May 2012, 1 544 students were transferred to 124 HEI at Ukraine’s mainland, including 421 students of the first year of study, 389 students of the 2nd year, 296 students of 3rd year, 251 students of 4th year, 138 students of 5th year and 59 students of 6th year. On 6 May, the amendments were introduced to Article 7 of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and on the Legal Status of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine” with regard to the right to education. According to these amendments, citizens of Ukraine who reside in Crimea or moved to Ukraine’s mainland, have the right to continue obtaining a certain level of education on the territory of other regions of Ukraine at the expense of state budget. Such students should be also granted student hostels. The students who studied at the government expense continue to obtain education in Ukraine without any major problems. However, the students who paid for their education and also fall within the scope of this Article face some difficulties. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine had not developed a clear instruction for heads of educational institutions on the transfer of such students, and the respective amendments were not introduced into the budget of Ukraine to cover the education expenses of such students. At the practical level, its results are that the students who paid for their tuition and were transferred to Ukrainian HEIs are requested to pay for their education, which is a violation of Ukrainian law. Additional sessions of External Independent Evaluation (Scholastic Aptitude Test) are organized for the graduates of Crimean schools. Admittance to higher educational institutions of Ukraine is subject to passing such evaluation. Admittance to government and community-based higher educational institutions of Ukraine is competition and merit-based to and in the accordance with a standard procedure. They are granted a place in student hostel during their studies. If the applicants are not eligible to government-funded education upon the results of competition, the educational institution is to increase the number of students whose education should be funded by the government. Whereas the Crimean school children who want to get admitted to Ukrainian HEIs pass a Scholastic Aptitude Test outside Crimea, there is a problem of their temporary accommodation when they pass the Test. PROVISION OF HOUSING The problem of provision of temporary accommodation is not settled so far. Some 650 Crimean people who escaped from Crimea are accommodated in the recreation facilities of Kyiv and Kyiv region. The Red Cross pays for their meals (in all recreation facilities) and accommodation (only in recreation facility “Zhuravushka”) with the help of donations. But this money will be enough to cover the expenses only by June. The part of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Crimea is accommodated with the help of civic initiatives and NGOs. But all these accommodations are temporary. State Oblast Administrations are ready to provide land plots in rural areas, but the majority of IDPs lack enough funds to construct houses on these land plots and not all IDPs are about to reside in rural areas and get engaged into farming. A part of IDPs are temporarily accommodated by religious communities. Other IDPs are forced to stay with their relatives, friends or rent accommodation at their own expense.

REGISTRATION Enjoyment of many rights of the citizens of Ukraine (activities of individual entrepreneur, employment, registration of property rights, etc.) is linked to the registration of residence of a citizen. The majority of IDPs that had to flee the occupied territory are registered in Crimea in the places of residence that belong to them. For the time being, there are not exceptions in terms of place of registration or stay for the IDPs, general rules apply. With this view, in order to obtain a new place of residence Crimea citizens have to submit documents that provide their right to residence or stay in certain housing – housing order, ownership certificate, rent (sub rent) agreement or other documents. If these documents are missing, the registration is possible with consent of the owner or co-owner of housing, tenant and members of his/her family to the respective registration of place of residence. A Crimean resident may provide a document that confirms the right to stay or registration in a facility that grants access to services in a specialized social facility, facility of social service or social protection, or a copy of the registration certificate of a homeless person. Notwithstanding, the majority of IDPs are not able to acquire new accommodation, because they cannot sell their housing in Crimea. Many of them do not earn enough to rent an apartment, and not all Crimean people have relatives and friends ready to register them at their homes. Therefore, the majority of Crimean IDPs are not able to acquire new registration of residence/stay. In addition, in case of standard procedure of registration change, a new stamp should appear in a passport of IDP. Such a stamp confirming a place of residence/stay in other regions of Ukraine entails a number of complications for IDPs when they visit the occupied territories where they have relatives or property. At the Russian state border, they are to fill out an immigration card and stay at the territory of Crimea as foreigners. After 90 days they have to leave Crimea. Annulment of the registration in Crimea makes it complicated to enjoy the property rights in Crimea: Russian authorities in Crimea envisage such IDPs as foreigners and apply to them special measures that impede their property rights. These problems require immediate legislative or governmental solutions. It is necessary to develop a simplified procedure of place of registration for IDPs and regulate the provision of a certificate on registration of the place of residence to them. This certificate should have the same status as the respective stamp in a passport. On 26 May, a draft Law of Ukraine on introducing amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and on the Legal Status of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine” was registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine that concerns the place of stay and right to education. The draft law provides for simplified procedure of registration of IDPs from Crimea. It would provide the persons who fled Crimea and those who stay there with the right to obtain in the State Migration Service of Ukraine a certificate proving their place of residence. Such certificates are to be issued on the day of request upon presenting a passport and a written application that should contain an address for a citizen to receive an official mail. If this draft law is adopted, it will substantially improve the position of IDPs. The draft law is now under consideration, final decision has not been made so far. PROPERTY . BANKS Due to the legal collision that emerging from significant discrepancies between Russian and Ukrainian legislation in the realm of real estate transactions in Crimea, the IDPs are deprived of the opportunity to sell their real estate and Crimea in order to buy new housing in other regions of Ukraine. On 23 April, the National Bank of Ukraine sent the letter #25-111/18824 to all banks. Thereby, it requests them to release all blocked accounts of displaced persons who present a certificate on temporary registration on Ukraine’s mainland. The letter says that such certificate can be issued to displaced persons in the offices of State Migration Service of Ukraine. The banks are also requested to release the blocked accounts of Crimean clients after the presentation of a registration certificate in the Registry of internally displaced persons that may also be issued by the offices of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine. In late may, clients of Privatbank registered in Crimea started to receive SMS saying that their accounts are reset to zero. The bank stated that it will settle all accounts of its clients, and reset of accounts to zero is a technical procedure explained by closure of bank branches in Crimea. It is not known when Privatbank starts 18

giving out funds. But many displaced persons complain that they brought all necessary certificates to bank employees weeks ago but are still waiting for release of their blocked credit cards. For many displaced persons the money at their accounts in Privatbank for the time being is the only mean of subsistence. BUSINESS A ND ECONOMIC ACT IVITIES A recurring problem of temporary registration of IDPs has almost blocked the economic activities of individual entrepreneurs in Crimea who want to continue their operation in other regions of Ukraine. Without changing their place of residence, they cannot change the place of registration of their economic entity or a legal entity, and consequently, cannot continue their economic activities. For most of them, it is the only source of income. Entrepreneurs cannot obtain new banking details for paying taxes to the budget of Ukraine, which also hampers their economic activities. The IDPs cannot set up a legal entity or become individual entrepreneurs due to the same reasons. EMPLOYMENT The citizens of Ukraine having fled Crimea and having not getting off their job who cannot continue their employment on the territory of peninsula, can stop labour relations or confirm the fact of termination of such relations through the court at the place of their stay in order to obtain the status of unemployed and become eligible to receiving social benefits and services within the state social unemployment insurance. Other kinds of activities, including self-employment and entrepreneurship, are discontinued on the basis of the respective application according to the simplified procedure at the place of their stay. The most pressing issue is employment of IDPs who were employed in the budgetary sector in Crimea or had special kind of service (medical, teaching, public service, etc.). The Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers as of 1 March 2014 “On the Economy of Public Funds and Prevention of Budgetary Losses” bans the establishment of new budgetary institutions without prior approval by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, does not allow submission to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine the proposals and making own decisions with regard to increase of the staff number of subsidiary bodies and institutions. As a result, the heads of state enterprises and institutions are not able to hire or transfer IDPs from Crimea.

Information has been prepared on the basis of the materials of: Olga Skrypnik, office of the Crimean Field Mission in Ukraine, Centre of Civil Education “Almenda” Tetiana Pechonchyk, Human Rights Information Centre, Ukraine Dariia Sviridova, lawyer, Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, Ukraine Sergey Zaets, attorney, Crimea

ANNEXES ANNEX 1

DECREE OF THE HEAD OF REPUBLIC OF CRIMEA

On the restrictions in organization of mass events due to the development at Southern and Eastern parts or Ukraine

With a view to the developments that take place in many cities of Southern and Eastern parts of Ukraine that lead to casualties and injuries of civil peaceful population, and in order to prevent possible provocations on the part of extremists that have opportunities to find way into the territory of Republic of Crimea, and for the avoidance of disruption of resort season in the Republic of Crimea, 1. To prohibit any mass events on the territory of the Republic of Crimea by 6 June 2014; 2. To propose to the authorities of the Republic of Crimea, local self-government bodies, culture facilities, located in Crimea, to cancel the planned mass events within this period.

Head of the Republic of Crimea a.i.

S.V.Aksyonov

Simferopol city 16 May 2014 #29

ANNEX 2

FEDERAL MIGRATION SERVICE (FMS of RUSSIA)

_____________ ___________________@mail.ru

Department of the organization of registration and passport work Division on organization of passport work 4, Boyarskiy lane, Moscow city, 107078

14 May 2014 # 3/31318 On consideration of request

Dear ____, Your request received by the web-site of FMS of Russia with regard to drawing up and issuing of foreign travel document was considered. We clarify that in accordance with Federal Constitutional Law #6-FCL as of 21 March 2014 “On the Admission of the Republic of Crimea and Establishment of the New Federal Subjects of the Russian Federation – Republic of Crimea and Federal City of Sevastopol”, a transitional period is set by 1 January 2015, within which the issues of integration of new federal subjects of Russian Federation into the economic, financial, credit, and legal systems of the Russian Federation and into the system of state authorities of the Russian Federation shall be governed. Within the framework of these activities, the respective measures are taken to set up on the territory of Crimean peninsula the state facilities on publishing, drawing up and control of passport and visa documents of the new generation by the respective sector of the FMS of Russia that are necessary to drawing up passports of a citizen of Russian Federation certifying the identity of a citizen of Russian Federation outside the boundaries of Russian Federation and containing an electronic data medium (hereinafter – foreign travel document). For the time being, residents of the Republic of Crimea and federal city of Sevastopol have the opportunity to draw up foreign travel documents in any other federal subjects of the Russian Federation irrespective of their registration on the territory of these federal subjects. The closest to the Republic of Crimea offices of the Department of FMS of Russia in Krasnodar Kray, where the residents of the Republic of Crimea and federal city of Sevastopol may apply for drawing up a foreign travel document, are located in the following places: 1. Anapa town, 237, Shevchenko str.; 2. Temryuk town, 23, Rose Luxemburg str.