On 23 June this year, an occupation “court” in Crimea issued an unlawful decision to arrest in absentia Crimea.Realities journalist Aleksyna Dorohan for two months. She is accused of allegedly “organising an unlawful armed formation or participating in it,” an offence punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment.

The journalist stated that she had not received any notification of the prosecution until she was sent letters by a “court”-appointed lawyer, which reached her by post only on 11 August. She had been forced to leave Crimea back in August 2014 and had formally renounced the Russian passport that had been unlawfully imposed on the peninsula’s residents.

Dorohan is the author of the Hruz 200 (Cargo 200) database project, which contains information about residents of Crimea who fought in the ranks of the Russian army and were killed in the war against Ukraine.

The Mission condemns the latest persecution of journalists and violations of international law by the occupation regime in Crimea. A number of resolutions by international organizations have documented and denounced the suppression of freedom of expression on the occupied peninsula. Among them are the United Nations General Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and the European Court of Human Rights.