O.S.C.E. PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY DEMANDS RUSSIA CEASE RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION IN CRIMEA
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (P.A. O.S.C.E.) on 11 July called Russia to release illegally detained or convicted Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in Crimea. As the website of the P.A. O.S.C.E. says, quoting UNIAN, within the context of the 27th annual session of the assembly, the Berlin Declaration and a number of resolutions included in this declaration were adopted.
In particular, a resolution "Continuing violations of human rights and fundamental liberties in the autonomous republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)" was adopted. The Parliamentary Assembly of O.S.C.E. calls the Russian Federation "to immediately and unconditionally release Crimean activists Oleg Sentsov, Alexander Kolchenko, Aleksei Chirni, Remza Memetov, Seiran Saliev, Vladimir Balukh, Alexander Kostenko, Muslim Aliev, Emir-Usein Kuka, Vadim Siruk, Arsen Dzheppalrov, Refat Alimov, and other Ukrainian citizens who were illegally arrested or confined to prison on fabricated charges by the de facto authorities in occupied Crimea."
The parliamentary member states of the O.S.C.E. call the RF "to put an end to all forms of intimidation, repression, discrimination, and persecution of religious communities in Crimea." They also call the RF "to cease the eradication of education in the Ukrainian language and its study and restriction and suppression of cultural, religious, and other manifestations of Ukrainian identity, to assure the possibility of receiving education in the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages," and "immediately to rescind the decision declaring the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar nation to be an extremist organization and the ban on its activity, to rescind the decision prohibiting leaders of the Mejlis from entering into Crimea, and to refrain from maintaining or introducing restrictions regarding the possibility of the Crimean Tatar community preserving its representative bodies, including the Mejlis and Kurultai."
The resolution contains a call to Russia "to put an end to the practice of compelling residents of Crimea to serve in the armed and auxiliary forces of the Russian Federation, including by means of pressure or propaganda," and "to cease prosecution and illegal arrest of all residents of Crimea who speak out against the illegal occupation of the peninsula." The assembly also calls the RF "to conduct operational, nonpartisan, and effective investigations of all instances of violation of human rights in Crimea, including cases of torture, abduction, and violent disappearances."
The P.A. O.S.C.E. calls the RF "to immediately grant unhindered access to Crimea for international organizations, institutions, special procedures, and independent experts of the O.S.C.E., the United Nations Organization, and the Council of Europe, and also for any rights advocates of NGOs or news media who wish to visit Crimea and evaluate the situation in Crimea and to provide information about it" and "to create and support safe and favorable conditions for the work of journalists, rights advocates, and lawyers in Crimea that is independent and free of unreasonable interference." (tr. by PDS, posted 12 July 2018)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.