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A court in Russia has rejected an appeal in the case of Crimean Muslims and upheld an illegal sentence against Remzi Bekirov (19 years in prison), Riza Izetov (19 years), Shaban Umerov (18 years), Raim Aivazov (17 years) and Farhod Bazarov (15 years).
The occupiers continue to search for the perpetrators of the damage to the railway in the village of Pochtove, and they are still looking for Crimean Tatars – this morning, the occupation forces broke into the house of Fazil Emiruseinov with an illegal search.
Crimes of occupation
As of April 3, 2023, it is known that the occupiers in Crimea have illegally imprisoned 181 Ukrainian citizens, 116 of whom are representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. Out of the total number of political prisoners, 40 are arrested, 122 are imprisoned, 18 are without status, and 2 have been released but are still in the center for the temporary detention of foreign citizens in Russia.
As of March 29, 301 “cases” have been opened under the absurd charge of so-called “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces”, namely Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation. Out of the total number of “cases”, the occupation courts issued 251 illegal decisions on fines ranging from 30 thousand to 75 thousand rubles.
The occupying country has also provided for criminal liability for the so-called “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces” – Articles 207.3 and 280.3 of the Criminal Code. Under these articles, 2 and 1 sentences were passed in the occupied Crimea, respectively. Details are available in our reference: https://cutt.ly/04XVfOu
Militarization of the Crimean peninsula
The airport in Simferopol has been closed to civil aviation of the occupier since February 24 last year.
In the occupied Crimea, the “yellow level” of the terrorist threat continues indefinitely: in Sevastopol, Armyansk, Dzhankoy, Krasnoperekopsk, Kerch, as well as in Dzhankoy, Krasnoperekopsk and Leninsky districts.
Residents of the occupied Crimea continue to record the activity of Russian fighter jets on a daily basis, which are likely to fire missiles at Ukrainian cities.
According to open source information, students of the Simferopol College of Finance and Economics are being threatened to bring items from a list for Russian soldiers: socks, cookies, personal care products, etc.
The head of the occupation administration of Crimea, Aksyonov, created a TikTok army. “Aksyonov’s men from this alleged reconnaissance and assault unit “Convoy” build dugouts with windows on the “first line” 5 meters underground, take pictures on tanks, play reconnaissance and storm the positions of an imaginary enemy on camera.
According to the representative of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense Chernyak, after the “cotton” the occupiers in Crimea began to move parts of the Black Sea Fleet’s technical staff to Novorossiysk and disperse Russian aviation on the peninsula.
The Atesh resistance movement reported that it had spotted Russian Guard military equipment in the center of Simferopol in the open air.
According to the General Staff, in order to compensate for the large losses in the military units of the Russian Armed Forces, the occupiers in Crimea are actively conducting outreach activities among conscripts: they tell young people about the need to sign contracts and participate in the war against Ukraine.
“Cotton” happened last week in Hvardiyske. This explosion was noticed by everyone, except the head of the local occupation administration, who ignored the huge smoke mushroom in the sky and wrote “no smoke is visible.”
According to open sources, the demand for cremation of killed Russian soldiers has increased tenfold in the temporarily occupied Yevpatoriya.
Residents of the occupied Crimea inform us daily about Russian missile launches from the Black Sea, all of which are aimed at Ukrainian cities.
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in the occupied Crimea, in particular in Krasnoperekopsk, the FSB conducts filtration procedures: undressing people, interrogations with beatings, etc.
The occupiers in Crimea have started distributing leaflets with instructions to report suspicious items, drones, cars left in parking lots for a long time, and people taking pictures of military or social infrastructure facilities.
According to open sources, due to the construction of defense structures, sanatoriums and boarding houses in the occupied village of Zaozerne will not open for this year’s holiday season.
Forced mobilization
As of April 3, 2023, at least 338 soldiers of the Russian army have already been buried in the occupied Crimea. 231 of them were probably Ukrainian citizens. The number of burials may be higher, as many of them take place without coverage. Information is being updated.
The occupation court in Crimea illegally sentenced a citizen who refused to participate in the war against Ukraine to 9 years in prison.
The occupiers in Crimea failed their “plan” for an illegal autumn conscription (November-December 2022). According to the Crimean Human Rights Group, 1932 Crimeans (78.8% of the plan) were sent to the Russian army during this draft. In addition, organizations that help evade conscription for money have become more active in Crimea.
On April 1, the occupiers started another illegal conscription to the Russian Armed Forces, the 17th in Crimea during the occupation, which is a gross violation of international humanitarian law. We call on our citizens to avoid illegal service in the aggressor’s army: https://cutt.ly/vVIJLiQ
Propaganda of the occupation administrations and incitement to hatred
The occupation mouthpiece of Crimea, Konstantinov, could not stand the post of NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov about 12 steps to de-occupy Crimea and wrote a panicked post in response to his TV channel.
Local collaborators and propagandists continue to harass citizens for any manifestation of support for Ukraine: a new “video apology” from a Sevastopol resident has been posted online, another girl shot a video wearing a blue and yellow wreath and posted it on Instagram, and a resident of the village of Pionerske was illegally sentenced to 10 years for allegedly setting fire to a military commissariat in Simferopol.
Publications of the occupation media
A selection of this week’s propaganda messages: “read only Russian media, because the whole world is lying”, “Ukraine is trying to test the defense of Crimea, but it has no chance”, “Ukraine has organized a massacre of Orthodox Christians”.
Public sentiment
The resistance movements Yellow Ribbon, Atesh, and Crimean Fighting Seagulls continue to be active: they make ribbons, posters, warnings to the occupiers and collaborators, and collect information about them. The CCG also posted purchased drones with the movement’s symbols. In short, our citizens are doing everything they can to make the de-occupation happen as soon as possible.
The Yellow Ribbon delivered letters to MEPs from those who are resisting and supporting the resistance in Crimea, as well as train tickets to Ukrainian Simferopol.
We remind our fellow citizens about the chatbot “Razom” launched by the activists of the Yellow Ribbon resistance movement – send information about the occupiers to https://t.me/zhovta_strichka_bot
The Mission continues to receive inquiries from Ukrainian citizens who want to leave Crimea because they cannot tolerate the occupation and total propaganda. We remind you of our instructions on how to leave the temporarily occupied Crimea: https://cutt.ly/YV8zdBz
We thank the conscious Ukrainian citizens in the occupied Crimea for promptly reporting on the situation on the Crimean peninsula, in particular on the socio-economic situation, the movement of Russian troops, the movement of resistance to the occupation, etc. For more information, please send an e-mail to the Mission’s Information Support Department:
Glory to Ukraine!