Crimea Field Mission Report: June 2014

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The monitoring review prepared with support from the “Democratization and Human Rights in Ukraine” project

implemented by the United Nations Development Programme and financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of

Denmark

Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights

Brief Review of the Situation in Crimea

(June 2014)

Analytical Review

І. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................................3

ІI. Problems of the residents of Crimea .........................................................................................................................4

2.1. Civil and political rights .............................................................................................................................................4

Right to Life............................................................................................................................................................. 4

Prohibition on Torture ........................................................................................................................................... 4

Right to Freedom and Personal Immunity .......................................................................................................... 4

freedom of Speech and Expression ..................................................................................................................... 5

Freedom of Peaceful Assembly ............................................................................................................................ 7

Freedom of Conscience and Religion .................................................................................................................. 8

Freedom of Movement .......................................................................................................................................... 9

Right to a Fair Trial and Efficient Means of Legal Protection ......................................................................... 10

Court Proceedings ................................................................................................................................................ 11

Issues Related to Citizenship .............................................................................................................................. 12

«Crimean Self-Defence» ..................................................................................................................................... 14

2.2. Social and Economic Rights ....................................................................................................................................15

Property Rights ..................................................................................................................................................... 15

Registration of Rights ...................................................................................................................................... 15

Banking System ................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Freedom of Enterprise ..................................................................................................................................... 16

Right to Health Care ............................................................................................................................................ 16

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Labour Rights ........................................................................................................................................................ 17

Other ......................................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.3. Position of Vulnerable Groups. Manifestations of Xenophobia ......................................................................... 17

Ukrainians .......................................................................................................................................................... 17

Crimean Tatars ................................................................................................................................................. 17

Orphans and Children Deprived of Parental Care ........................................................................................ 18

Persons Serving a Sentence............................................................................................................................ 18

II. Problems of the Residents of Crimea who Had to Excape from the Peninsula and Move to Continental

Ukraine (Internally Displaced Persons) ........................................................................................................................ 18

Social and Economic Rights ................................................................................................................................ 18

Protection of Rights of Internally Displaced Persons .................................................................................. 18

Right to Education ............................................................................................................................................ 20

Provision of Housing ........................................................................................................................................ 20

Registration ....................................................................................................................................................... 21

Property. Banks ................................................................................................................................................ 21

Business and Economic Activities ................................................................................................................... 21

Employment ...................................................................................................................................................... 21

Annexes ................................................................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

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І. INTRODUCTION

The present Monitoring Review has been prepared by the Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights and is

based on the materials collected by the Mission during its work in Crimea, as well as in Russia and

Ukraine in June 2014.

The Crimean Field Mission (“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;

• mitigation of threats of all parties to the conflict;

• maintenance of proper legal guaranties in the region, strengthening and promotion of human

rights standards and effective protection mechanisms through the monitoring of the

situation and verification of incoming messages about different clashes;

• provision of comprehensive assistance to the initiatives aimed at the protection of human rights

of all participants of the conflict.

Emphasizing that human rights remain to be a direct and legitimate concern of the international civil

society while implementing the abovementioned aims, the Mission shall:

• perform monitoring of the general situation concerning compliance with the provisions of

international humanitarian law and fundamental human rights in Crimea, issues of

protection of human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, as well as public figures and ensuring

their professional activities;

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

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

• call on all parties of the confrontation to abide by the rules of international humanitarian law and

obligations in the field of the protection of human rights, as well as call on international

organizations and their members and participants to control the observance of such obligations.

The Mission unconditionally refuses to resort to violence or discrimination in its activities and is guided by

the principles of political neutrality and adherence to law.

The conclusions of the paper have been made on the basis of the first-hand information (observation of

the situation and developments in Crimea, interviewing the representatives of key target groups), mass

media monitoring, analysis of the developments and legal basis, as well as on the basis of official statistic

data.

The review is prepared monthly and includes the chapters on the situation with civil and

political, socio-economic rights in Crimea, as well as deals with the issues of the status of

vulnerable groups and manifestations of xenophobia on 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.

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ІI. PROBLEMS OF THE RESIDENTS OF CRIMEA

2.1. CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

RIGHT TO LIFE

Crimean authorities do not provide information on the investigation of murders of Reshat Ametov (body

found on March 15), Ukrainian Navy major Stanislav Karachevskyi (murdered on April 6) and 16-year-old

Mark Ivaniuk (murdered on April 20) committed previously on the territory of Crimea. The circumstances

in which the murders were committed largely point to political motives. The wife of the murdered Reshat

Ametov reported that the investigating authorities did not provide her any clear explanations about the

investigative activities performed.

The fate of Vasyl Chernysh, a resident of Sevastopol, Avtomaidan activist who was reported missing on

the eve of the referendum (March 16) still remains unknown. The last time he got in touch was March

15. His relatives fear that Vasyl is no longer alive.

The lack of investigative action and disinterest of Crimean authorities in investigating the murders poses

a threat of impunity and enforcement of positive duties of protection of the right to life.

PROHIBITION ON TORTURE

On May 10 (according to other sources on May 11) a Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov was detained.

The Federal Security Service (FSS) Russia accuses him of organizing a terrorist attack. On June 4, the

detainee’s lawyer Dmitry Dinse said that Sentsov was tortured in order to coerce to make a statement.

Sentsov’s lawyer filed a complaint to the Investigative Committee of Russia, which indicates that the

filmmaker detained in Crimea had been beaten and threatened in the FSS Department in Simferopol.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated: “We call on the international community, the

international human rights non-governmental organizations, the Russian public to assess the outrageous

facts of torture put by the Russian punitive bodies, to continue a purposeful pressure on the Kremlin

aiming to release all political prisoners, including the citizens of Ukraine”. The MFA Ukraine has

repeatedly demanded from the Russian Federation to immediately release Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg

Sentsov and other detained citizens of Ukraine.

Amnesty International made an appeal to demand from Russian authorities to conduct a thorough and

independent investigation into the allegations of lawyers regarding the torture and threats against a

Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov.

RIGHT TO FREEDOM AND PERSONAL IMMUNITY

In Crimea there is no protection of the right to freedom and personal immunity, primarily in relation to

the Ukrainian activists and Crimean Tatars.

To this day, the Prosecutor’s Office and law enforcement agencies of Crimea did not provide information

on the progress of investigations into abductions of activists that took place in late May. Namely, on 22

May, one of the activists of the initiative group Ukrainian People’s Home Leonid Korzh (born 1990) was

reported missing; on 26 May Timur Shaimardanov was reported missing; on 30 May activist Seiran

Zinedinov (born 1977) was kidnapped (Annex 1). All the tree missing individuals were active

participants of the movement in favour of territorial integrity of Ukraine, and provided assistance to

Ukrainian military troops while the latter were being blocked (during February-March 2014).

The testimony of relatives and friends of the missing suggest that the abductions are inter-connected and

politically motivated. It is still not possible to get information from the Crimean law enforcement bodies on

the investigation of these cases of abductions.

According to Timur Shaimardanov’s sister, she was invited for questioning to the investigating committee.

She was not informed on the results of investigative actions, but in the course of communication there

were questions about Shaimardanov possession of firearms, whether he visited a mosque and how often,

and also, what were the grounds for belief in the alleged involvement of representatives of the Crimean

self-defense.

According to the relatives of Seiran Zinedinov, they have (or they were shown) a video recorded by a

surveillance camera at the petrol station, where the activist was last seen before the abduction.

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According to Zinedinov’s father, the video shows that a car stopped near the activist not far away from

the petrol station (the car number and model cannot be defined because of the distance) and the latter

was forced into a car. After submitting an application to the police, relatives of the kidnapped had not

received any information about his fate or the progress of the investigation.

The Head of Crimea Sergey Aksenov said that he personally called the police and the FSS and inquired

about the fate of the detainees. He instructed his first deputy Mikhail Sheremet to explore the situation.

However, Mr. Sheremet is the former head of the “Crimean Self-Defence”, which poses a threat of a

biased trial of cases of the abductees because of the alleged involvement of “Crimean Self-Defence” in

the kidnapping of activists and other offenses on the peninsula.

Thus, it was impossible to establish any details about the first missing activist Leonid Korzh.

The Crimean Field Mission appealed to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Ella

Pamfilova with a request to take personal control of the investigation into the situation with kidnapping in

Crimea and to publicly assess the actions of paramilitary groups in Crimea (“Crimean Self-Defence”). On

19 June the Crimean Field Mission received a response from the Deputy Chief of the Department on

Protection of Human Rights in Criminal Proceedings E.A. Bobkova: “Your inquiry regarding the search for

Shaimardanov T., Zinedinov S. as well as other issues, addressed to the Commissioner for Human Rights

in the Russian Federation, was sent to the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Crimea, which is

competent for its consideration. The indicated supervisory authority shall inform you on the results” .

On 2 June, the representatives of the “Crimean Self-Defence” unlawfully detained a journalist Sergei

Mokrushin and a filmmaker Vladlen Melnikov for “inappropriate remarks” about the top officials of

the Russian Federation. In their actions members of the illegal formation willfully saw the signs of

disturbance of the public order. However, instead of retention at the scene until the arrival of police, the

detainees were taken to the so-called headquarters of the “Crimean Self-Defense”, where both of them

were handcuffed, the inspection of personal belongings, including telephones and correspondence in

social networks was performed accompanied by the physical coercion.

The police operational investigative group arrived two hours later. The law enforcement officers did not

bring any charges against the detainees; the record on the offence of the public order also was not

made. At the same time the results of forensic examination showed that of one of the detainees had a

severely bruised chest, traces of handcuffs, a hematoma on one leg, which confirms the use of violence

and bodily harm. Handcuffs are a special tool, which is used only by law enforcement agencies in strictly

defined cases.

The Crimean Field Mission found that since the incident and Sergei Mokrushin’s filing a complaint to the

police on the bodily harm, he has no information about the investigation or launch of a criminal case in

connection with bodily harm.

On 24 June, in Kolchugino village of Simferopol district the unidentified people invaded madrassa – an

Islamic religious school. The Press Secretary of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Crimea, the

deputy chairman of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eider Adzhimambetov reported that there were

students in the madrassa. The reason for invasion stated by the unidentified people was the need for a

search. After the unlawful searches, the masked men have taken the deputy director of the Crimean

madrassa Eider Osmanov.

The eyewitnesses reported that the search was conducted by men in camouflage uniforms with the

inscription “Berkut”, who introduced themselves as members of the FSS of Russian Federation, but did

not give reasons for their actions. During the search, several computers were seized, the doors were

smashed down and windows were broken. The children stayed in the building during the search.

Moreover, in the morning on the same day, the unidentified people unlawfully entered the building,

where the deputy director of madrassa of Kolchugino village resided. In the house there were Eider

Osmanov, his wife and two young children.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION

The Crimean Field Mission maintains the records of continuous pressure and human rights violations

against the independent media as well as obstruction of journalistic activity.

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On 2 June, representatives of the “Crimean Self-Defence” committed unlawful acts against members of

staff of the Center for Investigative Journalism – they unlawfully detained a journalist Sergei

Mokrushin and a filmmaker Vladlen Melnikov (see above).

After these events, the editorial office of the Center for Investigative Journalism was unlawfully

entered by the representatives of the “Crimean Self-Defence”, headed by the commander of the 1st

regiment of Simferopol’s ‘self-defense‘ Dmitry Prostakov. According to the head of the Center Valentina

Samar, representatives of the paramilitary formation demanded to show the media registration

documents and office lease agreement. Actions of the self-defense in the editorial office are associated

with the intentions to occupy the premises leased by the Center for Investigative Journalism to place the

“Crimean self-defense” units. According to the Editor-in-Chief Valentina Samar, shortly after the landlord -

the Federation of Trade Unions of Crimea - asked to vacate the premises by the end of the month. The

Crimean Field Mission found that as of 30.06.14 the lease period was extended for another month.

On 3 June, the editor-in-chief of the Crimean Tatar newspaper “Avdet” Shevket Kaybullaev was

summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office of Simferopol. The summon received by the editors stated: “The

Prosecutor’s Office of Simferopol is performing an investigation of the violation of the requirements of the

Law of Russian Federation On Combating Extremist Activities by the management of the print media

(Annex 2). The editor of the media explained this inspection as follows: “We are supposedly subject to

the paragraphs of articles which refer to extremist activities. This is expressed in the materials where we

mention the terms used throughout the world today. For example, the “temporarily occupied territory”,

“Russia’s annexation of the Crimea”. The Crimean Field Mission found that according to the head of the

legal department of Mejlis Teyfuk Gafarov, as of 30.06.14 the Prosecutor’s Office had not taken any

further action in relation to the editor or the media.

On 5 June, one of the founders of the Internet portal “Events of Crimea” Ruslan Yugosh reported

about the attempts of the Crimean police to put pressure on him as a journalist. As he pointed out, the

pressure began in the form of interrogations of his 73 year old mother. According to Ruslan Yugosh,

representatives of the police came to his registered address and called journalist’s mother to testify in the

the district police station; the summons was not served.

These actions, according to Ruslan Yugosh, involved the members of the Department on Combating

Cybercrime. No specific charges have been brought. Instead, an attempt was made to put a

psychological pressure on the journalist’s mother, as during the conversation it was repeatedly stated

that the journalist publishes some information, which “denigrates Crimea” and he should quit his activities

otherwise “it will get worse, because the FSS would be dealing with it” .

On 22 June, at about 18:00 in Sevastopol the police detained a journalist of the independent Ukrainian

channel “Hromadske TV” Tatiana Kozyreva and cameraman Karen Arzumanyan, who were

broadcasting from the rally at Nakhimov Square. According to the detainees, they were interrogated by

the staff members of Leninsky district police department and the Department for Combating Extremism.

The Crimean Field Mission found out that two hours after the detained journalists were released, no

charges were brought and detention report was not served.

On 29 June, in Simferopol there was a pasting of leaflets on the houses (Annex 3) with a call to inform

the Crimean Department of FSS about people who were “against the return of the Crimea to the

Russian Federation or participated in regional Maidan”. The calls can be anonymous. These leaflets pose

a threat of violating a number of fundamental human rights, namely the right to freedom of speech and

expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and association. These calls lead to inciting hatred and enmity

among the population of Crimea.

On 29 June, in Simferopol the cable TV providers discontinued broadcasting several leading Ukrainian TV

channels. The cable broadcasting of channels “Inter”, “1+1”, “2+2”, “Channel 5”, “ICTV”, “Novy

Channel”, “NEWS 24”, “NTN”, “RADA” was terminated, instead, various Russian TV channels were

added. In the cable network the Chernomorsk TV and Radio Company was disconnected. Also, there

was a disconnection in the networks of cable provider “ITV-K”, which is owned by one of the deputies of

the “State Council” of Crimea Alexander Melnikov. In Simferopol cable networks the broadcasting of a

number of Ukrainian entertainment, music and children’s channels continues. Back in March, in Crimea

the analogue and digital broadcasting of Ukrainian TV channels completely phased out; at their

frequencies now the Russian TV channels are broadcasted. Thus, the residents of Crimea are practically

unable to obtain information in Ukrainian and access the Ukrainian media.

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A significant limitation of freedom of speech in Crimea is the Law of the Russian Federation #433-FZ of

28.12.2013 “On Introducing Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation”. It envisages

criminal penalties including imprisonment for up to 5 years for public calls for action to violate the

territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, including with the use of media. The lack of clear definition

of the offense, which is enshrined in Art. 280.1 of the Criminal Code of RF poses a threat of unwarranted

prosecution of media representatives for using the generally accepted terms in the context of the

Ukrainian-Russian events, namely, “occupation”, “aggression of the Russian Federation”, “annexation”

etc.

In addition, on 30 June a draft law #527285-6 On Introducing Amendments to Article 280-1 of the

Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (increasing the responsibility for public calls) was submitted to

the State Duma, which envisages increased penalties. Under the draft law, the minimum penalty for the

call to violate the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation (Part 1 of Art. 280.1 of the Criminal Code)

shall be 100 thousand rubles, and the maximum penalty - 300 thousand rubles. Previously, the minimum

limit of penalty has not been established, and the maximum was the same. The draft law also introduces

a penalty in the form of hard labor for up to three years, or arrest for 4-6 months instead of the currently

in force compulsory community service for up to 300 hours. The maximum term of imprisonment shall be

four years, and in the current edition - three years.

The punishment for incitement to separatism using the media or the Internet (Part 2 of Art. 280.1 of the

Criminal Code of RF) remains the same - compulsory community service for a period of up to 480 hours

or imprisonment for up to five years. However, the draft law introduces an additional penalty of

suspension of the right to occupy certain positions or engage in certain activities.

FREEDOM OF PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY

In early June, the Prosecutor’s Office of Crimea initiated the establishment by the Council of Ministers of

Crimea of the rules of mass actions in view to develop regional regulations establishing venues for

meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets. The Prosecutor’s Office motivates its proposal by

the importance of ensuring security; however, the establishment of places of peaceful assembly shall lead

to the unjustified limitation of the freedom of peaceful assembly.

The legality, validity and appropriateness of the actions and decisions of the Prosecutor’s Office of Crimea

was repeatedly questioned by the Ukrainian authorities. Moreover, back in March, the General

Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine opened a criminal case against the current Prosecutor of Crimea Natalia

Poklonskaya. The criminal case was opened under Part 1 of Article 27 and Part 1 of Article 109 “Actions

taken to forcibly change or overthrow the constitutional order or the seizure of state power, as well as

conspiracy to commit such actions”. Earlier, under the order of the Acting General Prosecutor Natalia

Poklonskaya was dismissed from the prosecution authorities and deprived of the rank “Judicial

Counsellor” for breach of oath and misconduct discrediting the honor of the Prosecutor’s Office official.

According to the Head of the Secretariat of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Dilyaver Akiyev, on 11

June Mejlis submitted a notice to the Simferopol City Council stating that on 26 June in the city center, in

the park named after Trenev, the cultural events to mark the Crimean Tatar Flag Day were to be held.

However, a written reply of 17 June addressed to Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People denied to hold the

events dedicated to the Crimean Tatar Flag Day in the center of Simferopol. The refusal of the city

authorities stated: “In the park named after K.A. Trenev currently there are children’s playgrounds, rides,

which are especially in demand during the school holidays; there are classes, competitions, exhibitions

and other events involving hundreds of children, in the music school there is an enrollment for 2014-2015

academic year (audition)... The accumulation of many people in a limited area not intended to

accommodate the further claimed number of participants, can create conditions for the violation of the

public order, the rights and lawful interests of other citizens”. This motivation is not adequate and is not

based on the provisions of law. The city authorities have not provided sufficient mechanisms and

procedures that allow exercising the freedom of assembly. Dilyaver Akiev noted that in the near future

Mejlis intends to apply to court finding the decision of the city authorities unlawful.

In addition, the Simferopol City Council refused to approve the route of the motor rally proposed by

Mejlis to mark the Crimean Tatar Flag Day. The city authorities suggested to change the route of the

motor rally to get off the central streets. However, the rerouting has a significant effect on the opinion

expressed by the organizers and makes it impossible to hold a peaceful assembly (motor rally) within the

sight and earshot of the target audience.

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The described facts of the limitation of peaceful assembly on the occasion of the Crimean Tatar Flag Day

are unreasonable and inadequate, which is a violation of the freedom of assembly.

FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND RELIGION

The Crimean Field Mission documented the facts of pressure, intimidation and discrimination against the

Crimean Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kiev Patriarchate, the spiritual and

educational institutions of Muslims and representatives of Protestant denominations.

On 1 July, a group of armed men in the Russian Cossacks uniform illegally broke into the premises of the

church of Protection of the Blessed Virgin, which is located in Perevalnoye village in Simferopol district,

and destroyed the Orthodox relics.

During the attack in the church the pregnant

parishioner and a priest’s daughter who suffers from

cerebral palsy were hurt and the car of the priest

was broken.

Archbishop Clement said that the police took the

rioters’ side and refused to even accept a complaint

on a crime against the believers. After the incident,

Archbishop Clement made a statement in which he

demanded to put an end to discrimination of UOC of

KP in Crimea.

Earlier, Archbishop Clement mentioned the economic pressure from the Crimean authorities expressed in

the exorbitant rent for the premises in which the main Crimean temple is located. This poses a threat of

closing the cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kiev Patriarchate in Simferopol.

The Kiev Patriarchy protested against the violent acts committed against the temple, the clergy and

believers of the Kiev Patriarchate in Perevalnoe village. The Moscow Patriarchy and the Crimean

authorities did not provide official response to the attack and capture of the temple of Kiev Patriarchate.

On 13 June, there was an attempt arson of the mosque “Chukurcha Jami” in Simferopol with Molotov

cocktails that was recorded by a surveillance camera. As a result of the attempt arson the facade of the

mosque was damaged. The law enforcement officials arrived to the scene, but the reporters did not get

any comments from the press service of the Crimean police.

In addition, on the fence next to the mosque the “Nazi

swastika” was painted in black as well as the date of arson

“13.06.14”.

Imam of the Simferopol district Muhammad Islamov

believes that these actions may be a provocation. He called

on Muslims not to succumb to such provocations.

On 24 June, the representatives of FSS and the Department on Combating Extremism conducted an

unlawful search in the Muslim school madrassa in Kolchugino village and in the home of the Deputy

Director of madrassa (see above).

Pastor of Crimean branch of the “Army of Salvation” Ruslan Zuyev, who previously reported on

pressure on representatives of Protestant religious movements in Crimea, was forced to leave the Crimea

with his family. The Pastor told the Crimean Field Mission: “Recently, the FSS in Simferopol started to

show interest in me. At first, they repeatedly called asking for a meeting. After the third or fourth call two

men came to the office and asked some very strange questions. Prior to that, they threatened my wife,

my daughter. At school there was a terrible attitude towards my daughter because she was in a

Ukrainian class”. Pastor and his family took part in the pro-Ukrainian rallies, spoke to the media, helped

Ukrainian soldiers, took more than 450 military men to the territory of Ukraine, and looked for the

missing Crimean activists. Currently, the pastor and his family temporarily live in Kiev.

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These facts constitute a flagrant violation of the freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and those

responsible for wrongdoing have not been brought to responsibility.

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

In late May, the Crimean Field Mission recorded the cases when the Border Guard Service of Ukraine

refused to allow the citizens of Ukraine travelling from Crimea to enter other regions of Ukraine.

Ukrainian border guards demanded additional written justifications of entry to the mainland of Ukraine.

In this regard, the Crimean Field Mission has initiated a number of appeals to the Border Guard Service of

Ukraine in order to prevent the wrongful actions of the representatives of the Border Guard Service of

Ukraine.

On 5 July, the Border Guard Service of Ukraine provided a response: “We would like to inform you that in

accordance with the Part 1 of Article 10 of the Law of Ukraine On ensuring the rights and freedoms of

citizens and the legal regime in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine the order of travel of the

citizens of Ukraine from AR of Crimea to other regions of Ukraine and their return to the AR of Crimea is

carried out without restriction through the entry and exit checkpoints upon presentation of an identity

document and confirmation of the citizenship of Ukraine. It can be a passport of the citizen of Ukraine or

a passport of the citizen of Ukraine for traveling abroad as well as other documents referred to in

paragraph 1 of Part One of Article 13 of the Law of Ukraine On the Unified State Demographic Register

and documents, which confirm citizenship of Ukraine, identity or special status” (Annex 4).

On 4 June, the chief operator and technical director of the first Crimean Tatar TV channel ATR was

not allowed to enter the mainland territory of Ukraine. The cameraman Riza Veli said that he and his

colleague Ruslan Aliyev were on their way to Kiev and had travel authorization. On the administrative

border with Ukraine in Melitopol the official of the Border Guard Service of Ukraine checked their

documents, including the passports of citizens of Ukraine. However, according to Veli, after that another

Ukrainian border guard became suspicious, and inspected their personal belongings. As a result, in the

bags of the residents of Crimea the border guards found Russian passports. “The passports were

received after the statement made by the Minister of Justice Pavel Petrenko that Ukraine shall not apply

any sanctions to Crimeans that received passports of citizens of the Russian Federation”, - said the chief

cameraman of the TV channel. However, none of the arguments convinced the border guards and the

Crimeans were detrained and had to return to Crimea (Annex 5).

The press service of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine explained that this case seemed

suspicious to the inspector. It was also noted that if the Crimeans did not have Russian passports, they

could have continued their travel. “Given that they had the passports of Russian citizens, they fell under

the category of risk. Our inspectors have decided to deny admittance. If there is any concealment, the

inspector is mandated to make such a decision”, - the press service said.

On 13 June, officers of the Border Guard Service of Ukraine denied admittance to the Crimean news

photographer Anton Volk, who aimed to perform his professional duties in Donetsk. They explained

their actions by the fact that the journalist had no documents confirming the purpose of his visit to

Donetsk. As established by the Crimean Field Mission, the reporter did not appeal against the actions of

the Border Guard Service. According to Art. 10 of the Law of Ukraine On ensuring the rights and

freedoms of citizens and the legal regime in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, Ukrainian

citizens have the right to a free and unimpeded entry and exit to and from the temporarily occupied

territory through the through the entry and exit checkpoints upon presentation of valid identity

documents and confirmation of the citizenship of Ukraine (Ukrainian passport).

The acute problem for the residents of Crimea, Ukrainian citizens, is the loss of Ukrainian passport. If

there is no passport for traveling abroad, such people are unable to leave Crimea. It is possible to

recover a lost passport of a citizen of Ukraine only through the bodies of the Migration Service of Ukraine

on the mainland. However, such citizens are unable to go to the mainland because at the ‘border’ the

border guards of the Russian Federation deny to them admittance to other regions of Ukraine, explaining

such refusal by the fact that the document (passport) allowing to cross the state border of the Russian

Federation is missing.

Citizens of Ukraine who need to paste a photo in the passport under the laws of Ukraine face difficulties

with the departure from Crimea. Thus, the daughter Sakina of the well-known pro-Ukrainian Crimean

activist Elizaveta Bogutskaya could not leave Crimea, as she was detrained by the Russian border guards.

Sakina was on her way to the mainland in order to paste a photo in the passport, as required by

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Ukrainian law on reaching 25 years of age. However, Russian border guards told Sakina Bogutskaya

that she had no right to cross the border of the Russian Federation, as her Ukrainian passport was

invalid. They offered the girl to solve the problem by getting a passport of the Russian Federation, thus

coercing her to change of citizenship.

A similar situation occurred with one of the residents of Simferopol, who asked not to disclose her

name. Suffering from an acute form of cancer, the woman intended to travel to Ukraine for treatment

with a certificate of loss of passport and a certified photocopy, but the Russian border guards did not

allow her entrance. The woman is physically unable to get a Russian passport, and without a passport

she is not allowed to leave Crimea.

On the Ukrainian side there are temporary checkpoints for entry and exit to and from Crimea. In

connection with the anti-terrorist operation in Ukraine the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the

Ukrainian Armed Forces ensure the strengthening of the military guard of the part of administrative

border of Kherson region with Crimea. The strengthening engages the units with armored vehicles, there

are measures aimed to strengthen the security of the Azov Sea coast; as of 19 June, five marine patrols

and 2 patrols are in reserve in the sea area, the control is established over the marine direction from

Genichesk to Mariupol and Novoazovsk.

In June the Crimean Field Mission has recorded a number of challenges facing railway communication

between Crimea and other regions of Ukraine. In Crimea on 10-11 June, the price of the tickets for

travelling to mainland Ukraine, sold by JSC Russian Railways, increased by 4-7 times. Thus, the ticket to

a premium service train #12 Simferopol-Kiev cost 4,894 rubles 40 kopecks, which by the coefficient of

3.0 (exchange rate) is about 1,631 UAH. Previously, the price of the ticket was about 380 UAH. The

Crimea Railway Directory Service confirmed that the ticket prices increased. As of 10 June the cost of

train tickets from Crimea to Ukraine is calculated in accordance with international tariffs. However,

“Ukrzaliznytsia” (Ukrainian Railways) stated that it had not changed the rates and did not receive official

notification from the Russian party on the introduced changes. On 11 June, Ukrainian Railways reported

that the price for train tickets traveling between the mainland of Ukraine and Crimea had not changed. As

before, the domestic tariff is effective on this route. The increased price for Crimeans is a consequence of

a failure in the automated ticketing system “Express-3” (JSC “Russian Railways”). According to

information provided by OJSC “FPK”, passengers who purchased tickets at increased prices can get the

fare difference reimbursement at the box offices at the stations where they purchased the tickets.

The return tickets from Crimea to the Ukrainian trains were temporarily removed from sale. The sale was

opened on 12 June for the dates from 16 to 30 June at domestic rates.

On 27 June, the media “Vesti” reported that the cost of train tickets from Crimea to Ukraine has risen

several times. The reason for this is the transition to the sale of travel documents at the international

rates (Annex 6). According to the railway personnel, on 26 June the two systems for ticket sale were

used at the box offices at the stations - Russian and Ukrainian. On 27 June, at night, the Ukrainian

system was turned off. Because of this, tickets cost 2-3 times more. A significant rise in the price of

tickets leads to a restriction of freedom of movement of the residents of Crimea and limits the ability to

maintain family ties.

RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL AND EFFICIENT MEANS OF LEGAL PROTECTION

The citizens of Ukraine Oleg Sentsov and Gennady Afanasiev, Alexei Chirnii, Alexander

Kolchenko, were detained by the FSS of Russia in Crimea in May, accusing them of organizing terrorist

acts in Simferopol, Yalta and Sevastopol cities. The FSS of Russia refers to them as the activists of the

“Right Sector” (“Pravy Sector”), but Ukrainian radical organization denies their membership. According to

detainees as well as their friends and relatives, they had no relation to the group “Right Sector” and were

activists of the movement against the occupation and annexation of Crimea. The detainees’ attorneys

refuse to provide the information about the investigation and make any comment referring to the

gagging order on the details of investigation. The FSS of Russia informs that the detainees plead guilty

and continue to testify. While the relatives and friends notify about the tortures applied to the detainees

and psychological pressure aimed at obtaining the guilty plea. The facts of torture were confirmed by

Oleg Sentsov.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine informs that the provision of legal and consular assistance and

protection to Oleg Sentsov and other citizens of Ukraine is complicated by the position of the Russian

side, which ignores the provisions of existing international instruments in this field. Despite the numerous

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appeals of the Ukrainian side, local authorities have not yet granted permission to visit the detainees in

custody, which is a gross violation of the human rights. Denial to Ukrainian consular officials to

unhindered relations in the foreign country is the actual blocking of the protection function in relation to

its citizens. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine believes that “such behavior on behalf of the

Russian side destroys and distorts the existing universal regime of consular relations between states,

defined by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963, which should be the subject of special

attention of the international community with the aim to provide the appropriate assessment, including

with regard to discriminatory application of the document in respect of the citizens of Ukraine”.

Thus, on 27 June, attorney of Alexander Kolchenko Svetlana Sidorkina was made aware with the

response of the FSS investigator to Kolchenko’s appeal to provide him with the opportunity to meet with

the Consul of Ukraine. Kolchenko is a citizen of Ukraine and did not take action to obtain Russian

citizenship. However, the refusal of the meeting with the Consul was justified as follows: “Given that

Kolchenko in the period of one month since the Crimea joined Russia did not submit an application

renouncing Russian citizenship, he “automatically” became a citizen of the Russian Federation”. The

investigators refused to provide a copy of the official response to Sidorkina despite her request. The

defense attorney is planning to appeal against the refusal.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has repeatedly requested that Russian Federation exercises

prompt release and return of the citizens of Ukraine, stopping the violations of their rights and freedoms,

as well as to ensure unconditional observance of its international obligations in the consular and legal

field.

The General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation believes that there are no reasons for changing

preventive measures and termination of prosecution of Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko detained

in Crimea. This was stated in the response of the Deputy General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation

Viktor Grin to the request of the Chairman of the Council at the Russian President on Civil Society

Development and Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov. The representative of the General Prosecutor’s Office

explained that the Department of the FSS of Russia in the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol city opened

and combined in one proceeding the three criminal cases on the activities of the ‘terrorist community’.

Sentsov and Kolchenko were detained as the suspects.

On 25 June, the State Council of Crimea adopted a Law On the Commissioner for Human Rights in the

Republic of Crimea. The position of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Crimea is established

under the law “in order to guarantee the state protection of human and citizens’ rights and freedoms, to

facilitate their observance and respect by the public authorities of the Republic of Crimea, local

authorities and officials”. The Commissioner is elected to office by the “Parliament” of Crimea; the office

term is five years. The activity of the Commissioner for Human Rights and the relevant staff will be

financed from the Crimean budget.

However, the position of the Commissioner with respect to the “Sentsov’s case” and other detainees and

abducted activists and other human rights violations has not been declared.

COURT PROCEEDINGS

On 11 June, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted and the Federation Council approved on

18 June the following federal laws (FL):

• Federal Law On the establishment of courts of the Russian Federation on the territory of the

Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol and on introducing amendments to certain

legislative acts of the Russian Federation;

• Federal Law On the bodies of judicial community of the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of

Sevastopol;

• Federal Law On the procedure for the selection of candidates to the original composition of

federal courts established on the territories of the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of

Sevastopol;

• Federal Law On the establishment of the Twenty First Appellate Court and introducing

amendments to the Federal Constitutional Law On arbitration courts in the Russian Federation.

It is provided for the establishment of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea and the Arbitration

Court of the Republic of Crimea, 24 district and municipal courts of the Republic of Crimea, the

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Arbitration Court of the city of Sevastopol, Sevastopol City Court, 4 district courts of Sevastopol city,

Crimea Garrison Military Court and Sevastopol Garrison Military Court.

Federal law stipulates that the establishment of bodies of judicial community of the Republic of Crimea

and federal city of Sevastopol shall be performed until 1 July 2015.

Federal law provides that the procedure for selection of delegates to the first conferences of judges of

the Republic of Crimea and judges of the federal city of Sevastopol, the norms of their representation of

the respective courts, as well as the procedure for convening and holding of these conferences shall be

approved by the Presidium of the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation.

Under the Federal Law, until the formation of qualification collegiums of judges of the Republic of Crimea

and federal city of Sevastopol is completed, their powers shall be exercised by the Higher Qualification

Collegium of Judges of the Russian Federation. Prior to completion of the formation of examination

boards of the Republic of Crimea and federal city of Sevastopol for conducting a qualifying examination

for judges, their powers shall be exercised by the Higher Examination Board for qualifying examination

for judges.

The Federal Law stipulates that the selection of candidates for the original composition of federal courts

of general jurisdiction and arbitration courts, established on the territories of the Republic of Crimea and

the federal city of Sevastopol, shall be conducted on a competitive basis by the Higher Qualification

Collegium of Judges of the Russian Federation.

The Federal Law fixed the pre-emptive right of persons substituting positions of judges acting on the

territory of the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol on the day of admission to the

Russian Federation of the Republic of Crimea and establishment in the Russian Federation of new entities

to fill the positions of judges of the federal courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration courts provided

the acquisition by them of the Russian citizenship and compliance with the requirements for candidates

for the position of judge in accordance with federal law. Only citizens of the Russian Federation can serve

as judges, which leads to forced acquisition of the Russian citizenship by persons who previously held the

positions of judges.

The Federal Constitutional Law provides for the establishment of the Twenty First Appellate Court, whose

jurisdiction includes the verification of judicial decisions of arbitration courts of the Republic of Crimea

and federal city of Sevastopol. The permanent location of this court shall be Sevastopol city. The

verification of judicial decisions adopted by the Twenty First Appellate Court shall be within the

competence of the Arbitration Court of the North Caucasus District.

However, the Law of Ukraine On ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens and the legal regime on the

temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine provides that “due to the impossibility to administer justice by

the courts of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol on the temporarily occupied

territories, the territorial jurisdiction of the court cases falling under the jurisdiction of courts located in

the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol city shall be changed” (courts of Kiev).

The jurisdiction of criminal offenses committed in the territory of Crimea is determined by the General

Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine. Materials of the pre-trial investigation of crimes for which the criminal

proceedings are at the stage of pre-trial investigation should be transferred to the pre-trial investigation

authorities appointed by the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine. However, the Crimean authorities

refuse to transfer the materials of pre-trial investigations.

Moreover, the Law of Ukraine stipulates that “any bodies, their officials and officers on the temporarily

occupied territory and their activities are considered illegal if these bodies or persons were established,

elected or appointed in a manner not prescribed by law. Any act (decision, document) issued by bodies

and/or persons envisaged in Part Two of this Article is invalid and does not create legal consequences”.

Thus, it can be assumed that the decisions of the Crimean courts established on the basis of the above

federal laws of the Russian Federation, will not be recognized by Ukraine and the international

community, which did not recognize the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

ISSUES RELATED TO CITIZENSHIP

The residents of Crimea who wish to retain Ukrainian citizenship, for the permanent residence in Crimea

should, under the demand of FMS authorities, obtain a residence permit (RP). The applications for

residence permit should be submitted to the territorial divisions at the place of residence, but the

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document is issued in Simferopol city for a period of 5 years. The residence permit stamp is affixed to the

national or foreign passport of the citizen of Ukraine. If a passport does not have a Russian

transliteration, it is necessary to provide a certified translation of the passport. Hwever notaries do not

work in Crimea.

To obtain a residence permit it is necessary to submit to the FMS division a package of relevant

documents and a written application based on the following form:

Temporarily Acting Chief of the FMS of Russia

in the Republic of Crimea

Yarosh P.G.

from ____________________________,

Full name

residing at:________

tel.__________________________

Application

I, __________________________________________________________________,

Full name, day, month, year of birth

born in ___________________________________________________________,

national passport ____________#_____________________________,

issued by

marital status __________________________________,

ask to issue a residence permit to stay in the Russian Federation, as I wish to preserve the citizenship

of Ukraine.

Attachment:

________________________

signature

________________________

Full name

In order to have a simplified procedure for obtaining a residence permit it is required to provide a copy of

the certificate of the applicant’s wish to preserve the citizenship of Ukraine.

For those residents of Crimea, who did not submit by April 18 the application for preservation of

citizenship of Ukraine, but wish to preserve it, the procedure for obtaining a residence permit is still

unclear. Without a residence permit Crimeans that preserve a citizenship of Ukraine are considered

foreign nationals who can continuously stay in Crimea for not more than 90 consecutive days.

On June 4, the Federal Law On Introducing Amendments to Articles 6 and 30 of the Federal Law On

Citizenship of the Russian Federation and Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation was signed.

The federal law is aimed at establishing the duty of citizens of the Russian Federation to report about

their citizenship (nationality) of a foreign state.

The citizen of the Russian Federation or the legal representative of the Russian citizen who has not

reached eighteen years of age or is incapacitated, should notify in writing the local FMS of his citizenship

(nationality) of a foreign state (including Ukraine) or a residence permit or other document confirming

the right to permanent residence in a foreign country.

This law establishes criminal liability for the breach of duty to notify of the citizenship (nationality) of a

foreign state or a residence permit or other document confirming the right to permanent residence in a

foreign country, and administrative responsibility for violation of the procedure of such notification.

Crimeans who acquired the citizenship of the Russian Federation are exempted from the obligation to

submit a notification in writing of the preservation of Ukrainian citizenship until December 31, 2015.

The RF in Crimea implements an active policy of “passportization” of Crimeans, establishing simplified

procedures for acquiring Russian citizenship. Thus, on June 23, the President of the Russian Federation

signed the Federal Law On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law On Citizenship of the Russian

Federation. The Law simplifies the procedure for admission to the citizenship of the Russian Federation of

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foreign nationals and stateless persons residing on the territory of the Russian Federation who are

entrepreneurs, investors, qualified specialists, graduates of Russian vocational education institutions or

foreign nationals and stateless persons permanently residing on the territory of the Russian Federation

and recognized as native Russian speakers in accordance with the Federal Law On Citizenship of the

Russian Federation.

However, the employees of the public sector (teachers, professors, government officials etc.) are

required to acquire the citizenship of the Russian Federation in order to keep their jobs.

In the passports issued in Crimea it is indicated that the passport was issued by the Federal Migration

Service, which contradicts the Resolution of the Government of RF of July 8, 1997 N 828 On Approval of

the Regulation on Passport of the Citizen of the Russian Federation, Form and Description of the Passport

of the Citizen of Russian Federation. According to the Resolution, the issuance and replacement of

passports is provided by the territorial bodies of the Federal Migration Service at the place of residence,

stay or application of citizens in the manner determined by the Federal Migration Service. However, in the

passports of Crimeans there is no indication of the specific territorial body of FMS, which issued the

passport, which gives reason to raise doubts about the validity of this document in the Russian

Federation.

Thus, in June the complaints were received from Crimeans who checked their new passports in the FMS

database, in particular in order to obtain a loan in the Russian banks and got a refusal. When checking

the validity of the passport of the citizen of the Russian Federation certifying the identity of the citizen of

the Russian Federation on the territory of the Russian Federation there is a response: “Currently not

included in the electronic registration of the FMS of Russia”.

Banci.ru reported that the Central Bank allowed the banks not to provide the services to customers if

their identification through the FMS database does not confirm the current status of their passports.

Banks received a relevant clarification from the Director of the Department for Financial Monitoring and

Foreign Exchange Regulation of the Central Bank Yuri Polupanov. The letter states that if in the case of

inquiring about the validity of the passport of an individual the credit institution receives a response

“There is no information regarding the specified details” or “Currently not included in the electronic

registration of the FMS of Russia” the bank reserves the right to deny services to the customer - until the

official confirmation of the status of the passport is received. If the bank received a reply that the

passport is not valid, it shall refuse to provide services to the customer.

The non-compliance of the passport documents issued by the FMS in Crimea with the Russian legislation

could limit the capacity of citizens in other regions of Russia.

“CRIMEAN SELF-DEFENCE”

Since late February, the “Crimean Self-Defence” has been directly involved in a number of violations of

the fundamental human rights (right to life, the right to liberty and personal immunity, freedom of

speech, freedom of movement etc.). The representatives of the “Crimean Self-Defence” took part in the

abductions of activists, attacks on journalists and obstruction of journalism, repeatedly performed illegal

searches of personal belongings and vehicles of the residents of Crimea. Many of these cases were

accompanied by the use of physical force, seizure and damage of the equipment, detention in the

premises of self-defense, interrogations and transfer to the law enforcement bodies.

The illegal armed formations emerged since the 20 February, consisting of representatives of criminal

groups, citizens of the Russian Federation and the local community members. Many of their actions and

the fact that they possessed weapons fall under the description of criminal offenses.

On 11 June, at an extraordinary plenary meeting of the State Council of the Republic a Law On the

People’s Police – People’s Guard of the Republic of Crimea was adopted in the second reading. The

implementation of this Law leads to the legalization of the “Crimean Self-Defense”, which raises serious

concerns among the residents of Crimea and poses a potential threat of violations of their rights and

freedoms.

This Law of the Crimean Republic details the powers of the “national guard”, prescribing the right to

assist in checking citizens’ documents in order to clarify the circumstances of the offense, to assist in

transfer (including with the use of physical force within self-defense in case of active disobedience or

resistance), in seizure of weapons used to commit offenses etc. The use of force is only possible in order

to eliminate the imminent danger to members of the people’s guard or other persons in case of self-

15

defense or extreme necessity. The Law stipulates only the “assistance” and not the direct checking of

documents, seizure of weapons used to commit offenses etc.

The Law simultaneously employs two terms “people’s police” and “people’s guard”; the distinction

between these definitions is not clear: “people's police” is a public association acting based on the

principles of voluntary involvement and independence from direct government intervention, and “people’s

guard” as “people’s police” - the subdivision of the state security agencies.

According to the Law of Crimea the “people’s police-guard” is established directly by the Council of

Ministers of Crimea, which provides overall guidance, establishes the headquarters, and provides

financing of its activity from the budget. The Chief of the Headquarters is appointed by the Head of the

Republic of Crimea. Such conditions make the independence of the “people’s guard” as a public

association impossible and lead to the fact that such a guard becomes part of the state security unit.

The Crimean Field Mission continues to record the violations of human rights by the “Crimean Self-

Defense” and “people’s guard” (people’s guards are former members of the “Crimean Self-Defense”).

Thus, at the railway station and the central bus station of Simferopol the representatives of the “Crimean

people’s police – people’s guard”, without the presence of police, selectively perform the checking of

documents and personal belongings. On 22 June, CFM recorded the fact that the people’s police –

people’s guard patrol while checking the documents of passengers of Ukrainian trains at the railway

station was armed with automatic weapons.

Currently, the Crimean Field Mission is unaware of the facts of prosecution of the members of “Crimean

Self-Defense”, and further the “people’s guard” for unreasonable and unlawful actions.

2.2. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS

PROPERTY RIGHTS

In violation of international norms and agreements the Crimean authorities and the authorities of the

Russian Federation continue to seize the state property of Ukraine, explaining it as “nationalization”.

Thus, the Acting Governor of Sevastopol city Sergey Menyailo informed the reporters that the shipyard

Sevastopol Marine Plant, after checking the order of its privatization, shall become a Russian

company. In 2010, Petro Poroshenko bought 60% of shares of the enterprise from a Russian

businessman Konstantin Grigorishin.

On 13 June, in the Bagerovo village of Leninsky district, the armed men seized the premises, facilities,

equipment, barns with the harvest, which belonged to Agrotrade LLC and the organization of

veterans and people with disabilities “Dobrobut” - the user of land of the former military farm

“Azovskiy”. The unidentified persons explained their actions by Aksenov’s order to preserve the property

of the military farm “Azovskiy” of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine from misappropriation, as well as to

prevent the removal from the warehouses of the enterprise of the grain crops. However, a representative

of the enterprise Alexander Gafner explained that there is no property of the military farm “Azovskiy” of

the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, there has been a liquidation process and everything was legally sold

to Agrotrade LLC. The farm land was transferred to the permanent use of the organization of veterans

and invalids “Dobrobut”. Gafner informed that members of the “special forces” seized the documents on

equipment that was rented from another company. The representatives of “Agrotrade” LLC appealed to

the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (Annex 7).

On 25 June, by the Decree of the State Council of Crimea to the property of the Republic of Crimea the

41 water management units, enterprises and organizations within the scope of control of the Republican

Committee for Waterworks Construction and Irrigated Agriculture were transferred, which were the

objects of the state property of Ukraine.

REGISTRATION OF RIGHTS

The lack of legal framework in Crimea led to the impossibility to fully exercise the property rights of the

residents of the peninsula. Property rights of Ukrainian citizens are registered in the relevant public

registers, such registers in Crimea have been closed. Officially, the units of Russian registry and the

Cadastral Chamber started to operate in Crimea as of 30 May.

However, the Sevastopol Chamber of Registration at first shall register only the transactions with

apartments in apartment buildings, where the Ukrainian property right was acquired before 2013. The

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sellers must assign a cadastral number to the apartment, include the apartment in the Cadastral Chamber

database, register the property right in the Chamber of Registration and then carry out the transaction.

Currently, such actions are only performed by those Crimeans who acquired the Russian citizenship. The

operation of the Russian registry in June referred only to the registration of property rights in the

secondary market. However, the real estate agencies informed on the possibility of buying an apartment

in the primary market through the assignment of share contributions in the construction of already

commissioned apartments for the subsequent registration of the buyer’s property rights.

The registration of land titles has not yet been conducted. The Federal Service for State Registration,

Cadastre and Cartography of Russia explains this by the absence of the relevant law. The situation is

complicated by the lack of adequate notaries (most of them are currently denied the right of notarial

activities and re-registered in accordance with Russian legislation).

Also, there is a problem with the registration of the right of inheritance. Despite the promise to open the

registers, as of 19 July, Crimean notaries had not certified the right to inheritance and find it difficult to

name specific dates of commencement of provision of this type of service.

FOR UKRAINIAN CITIZENS DEALS MADE SOLELY IN COMPLIANCE WITH UKRAINIAN LAWS

AND ON THE MAINLAND OF UKRAINE ARE RECOGNIZED AS VALID (E.G. THROUGH

THE CENTERS OF REGISTRATION OF PROPERTY RIGHTS IN KHERSON). THIS

SITUATION MAKES IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO SELL REAL ESTATE IN CRIMEA FOR

THE CITIZENS OF UKRAINE.

BANKING SYSTEM

An autonomous non-commercial organization “Fund for the Protection of Depositors” continues to

operate in Crimea, which provides compensation to customers of Ukrainian banks in Crimea. The

individuals are entitled to receive compensation, including those conducting business, without registration

of a legal entity. The compensation is paid on the bank deposits (accounts) that were placed in the

Ukrainian banks through 1 April 2014.

FREEDOM OF ENTREPRISE

Business entities that were registered in Crimea under Ukrainian legislation have been warned by the city

tax inspectorates of sanctions to be applied to them in case of their failure to pay taxes in the RF.

However, the entrepreneurs are Ukrainian entities and can pay taxes only to Ukraine. The taxes to RF

may be paid only by those, who re-registered their business entities in the Russian Federation. However,

the warnings related to all business entities. One of the aforementioned sanctions envisages the seizure

of the property or enterprise.

On 10 June, the Crimean Council of Ministers approved a new elaborate procedure for placement of

street advertising, billboards and signs on buildings. Now, the owners of advertising media should

coordinate with the executive authorities and local self-government the layout of advertising, providing

the data on the area, highways and road signs, as well as approved by the local authority target program

with the list of addresses of installation and operation of advertising designs.

On 18 June, in Simferopol, the utilities services and representatives of the “Crimean Self-Defense”

demolished three street cafes that have been found illegally established. Primarily, the objects on a

pedestrian street leading to the building of the State Council of Crimea were demolished. The Deputy

Prime Minister of the Republic Vladimir Garnachuk said that all illegal summer cafes and verandas shall

be demolished within a month. On 10 June, the Acting Head of Crimea Sergey Aksenov ordered to

demolish all illegal summer cafes in Simferopol city.

The withdrawal of hryvnia from monetary turnover considerably complicated the payments of Crimean

entrepreneurs to Ukrainian suppliers, which resulted in lower volumes of supplies of food to Crimea and

the growth in food prices.

RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE

In Crimea there is a shortage of medicines. Primarily, this concerns medicines that are not produced in

Russia and, accordingly, are not imported to Crimea. In order to buy certain medicines the residents of

17

Crimea have to go to the mainland of Ukraine. However, even under such circumstances, they are not

able receive all the medicines, as some of them are to be prescribed at the place of residence.

LABOUR RIGHTS

The CFM continues to record violations of labor rights. Thus, on 25 June, 4 employees of “Oschadbank”

were dismissed under the article “staff reduction”, although some of them were on maternity leave and

some were collecting documents for registration of the maternity leave.

OTHER

In the Crimean police the process of re-qualification of criminal proceedings opened before the

annexation of Crimea to Russia commenced. A source in the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Crimea

reported that currently in all the Crimean police departments the old criminal cases are re-registered

according to the Code of the Russian Federation. Primarily, the criminal proceedings related to

malfeasance, fraud, crimes against property and against human life and health are being re-registered.

Re-registration is carried out in accordance with the Federal Constitutional Law On admission to the

Russian Federation the Republic of Crimea and establishment of new subjects of the Russian Federation –

the Republic of Crimea and federal city of Sevastopol, which was adopted on March 21. All criminal cases

will have a new qualification in accordance with the criminal law of the Russian Federation. Prior to this,

the investigation of all criminal cases in Crimea was conducted solely by investigators from the Russian

Federation.

2.3. POSITION OF VULNERABLE GROUPS. MANIFESTATIONS OF XENOPHOBIA

UKRAINIANS

Ukrainians in Crimea represent not only an ethnic group; this group also includes residents of Crimea,

which express the pro-Ukrainian position. Thus, this group has not only ethnic, but also a political

component. First of all, members of this group face discrimination in the exercise of freedom of

assembly, freedom of expression and religion (Orthodox parishioners of the Kiev Patriarchate), the right

to freedom and personal immunity (see Section 2.1.)

The individual cases of politically motivated persecution include the violation of property rights of one of

the activists of local Euromaidan Andrey Schekun, a representative of the public organization

“Ukrainian House”. After his abduction by the “Crimean Self-Defense” (on 9 March), the torture and

eventual release (on 20 March) he was forced to move to Kiev with his family. In Bakhchisarai, where he

lived, he owns a three-room apartment. On 7 June, the unidentified men sealed this apartment; Schekun

found this out from his neighbors. They saw the sticker on the door of the apartment, which read “The

district police officer”. The police claims that they have nothing to do with it, and locals believe that these

actions involve the representatives of the “Crimean Self-Defense”. Schekun thinks that these actions

could be initiated by those who kidnap people in Crimea (see 2.1.). The press service of the Ministry of

Internal Affairs of Russia in the “Republic of Crimea” reported that police have not been involved in these

actions, but also did not take any action in this regard either. In late April, Andrey Schekun, Mikhail

Dobchenko and Anatoliy Kovalskyi, who were abducted on the eve of the referendum on 9 March in

Simferopol, filed complaints with the European Court of Human Rights. Currently, Schekun received a

confirmation that the complaint was received by the ECHR.

In Yalta, in the Ukrainian high shchool the graduates during the event “Farewell Bell” sang Ukrainian

anthem to the music of the Russian anthem. The pupils, who sang the Ukrainian national anthem, were

wearing neckties symbolizing the national flag of Ukraine. After the event, the pupils reported that on the

teachers, in particular, the class teacher, there was pressure and threats of resignation from the

leadership of the city, namely the Department of Education.

CRIMEAN TATARS

Crimean Tatars are a discriminated group based on ethnicity in the realization of the rights to movement,

freedom and private immunity, education, freedom of speech, assembly, religion and expression (see

2.1.).

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In addition to these cases, the Crimean Field Mission received information about the illegal detention of

the Crimean Tatars in Zuya village. On 24 May, to the village nightclub at about 2 o’clock in the morning

a special police force broke in, personal belongings of all visitors were searched; a few people were taken

to the police station, where, according to them, they were interrogated. According to eyewitnesses, only

individuals with a strongly marked “eastern appearance” were taken to the police station. Club owner

reported that law enforcement officers had no complaints against him.

ORPHANS AND CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF PARENTAL CARE

The Crimean Field Mission sent a request to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine and found that as of 1

January 2014 the primary registration of services for children of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea

included 4,323 orphans and children deprived of parental care. Some children were placed in special

boarding schools on the peninsula (Appendix 8). These children were “automatically” recognized by the

Russian Federation as Russian citizens, depriving them of the possibility to choose citizenship and the

place of residence. Moreover, the recognition of these children as citizens of the Russian Federation

significantly complicates the procedure of adoption or guardianship over them by the citizens of Ukraine.

Complete information on the situation of these children and protection of their rights and interests is

currently unavailable. The Crimean TV channels broadcast information that most children in orphanages

were sent to the summer camps in the Russian Federation for “patriotic education”.

This situation is alarming because it can lead to a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,

primarily of Article 8. Actions of the Russian Federation and the Crimean authorities constitute an

interference with the exercise of the rights of the child to preserve his or her identity, including

citizenship, name and family relations.

PERSONS SERVING A SENTENCE

The State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine has confirmed that currently the Crimean authorities and the

authorities of the Russian Federation refuse to cooperate with Ukraine on Ukrainian citizens serving

sentences in Crimea. The escorting of detainees and convicts between the institutions of Crimea and

mainland Ukraine is not currently carried out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

According to the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine in Crimea there are three thousands of persons

serving a sentence. About 200 citizens are subject to the Law of Ukraine On Amnesty. But Ukrainian

authorities are unable to apply the provisions of law to them because Crimean authorities refuse to

negotiate on this issue.

II. PROBLEMS OF THE RESIDENTS OF CRIMEA WHO HAD TO FLEE THE PENINSULA

AND MOVE TO CONTINENTAL UKRAINE (INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS)

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS

PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS

According to the UN Refugee Agency as of the end of June 12 thousand residents of Crimea fled to

Ukraine’s mainland. However, civil society organizations engaged in addressing the problems of internally

displaced persons state that the number of such people is much bigger because many displaced persons

do not register in the social policy units because of the lack of legislative definition of the status of

internally displaced persons.

Currently, in Ukraine, the legislative framework addressing the issues related to the occupied territory

and people migrating from it, is the Law of Ukraine On ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens and

the legal regime of the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine (as of 15 April 2014). However, this Law

does not fully address the social and economic issues of persons displaced from Crimea. At the moment,

it is necessary to adopt a Law of Ukraine to establish the mechanisms to ensure the rights of internally

displaced persons from Crimea.

On 19 June 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the draft law #4998-1 On the legal status of

persons who are forced to leave their places of residence due to the temporary occupation of the

Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Sevastopol and circumstances related to the implementation of the anti-

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terrorist operation in the territory of Ukraine submitted by people’s deputies of Ukraine Patskan V.V.,

Sobolev S.V. However, this draft law had a number of serious gaps.

The draft law 4998-1 was for the first and short time reviewed at the last meeting of the Committee on

Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations on 18 June virtually on the eve of its

adoption, which caused doubts about the quality of provisions aimed to solve the pressing problems of

the internally displaced persons. This draft law was adopted without proper and prescribed by the

Regulation of the Verkhovna Rada legal opinion of the Main Scientific Expert Department of the VRU. The

procedure by which the draft law was adopted (without public discussion, expert conclusions, without

actual review in the Committees and introduction of amendments) does not meet contemporary

democratic procedures of lawmaking. Moreover, members of the public had been working on another

draft law, namely #4998 On protection of rights of internally displaced persons, which as amended on

17.06.2014 enshrined the largest number of regulations proposed by the public and was based on the

experience of countries in which there is a situation of forced migration; it takes into account the

recommendations of the UN Commission on Human Rights and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

But this draft law was not included in the agenda for voting. Thus, the draft law 4998-1 was adopted by

the Parliament of Ukraine in violation of the Regulation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the

Constitution of Ukraine.

This draft law includes the term “forced migrant”, which does not comply with the generally accepted

international norms (namely, the notion of “internally displaced person”) and can lead to significant

confusion in the application of the term.

The draft law #4998-1, in contrast to the draft law, which was developed with the participation of the

public, does not contain provisions that would effectively address a large number of practical issues of

the displaced persons (registration, employment, assistance with temporary housing, simplified procedure

of re-registration of business etc.) and imposes such a duty on the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The

provisions of this draft law (par. 7, Art. 3) violate the Constitution of Ukraine and lead to restriction of the

freedom of movement and choice of the place residence by the citizens of Ukraine.

The draft law actually sets the so-called “burden of proof” that contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine.

Citizens of Ukraine who moved from Crimea will be forced to prove that their resettlement is compelled

and justified in terms of the specified Law.

Under the draft law, the principal body that implements the provisions of this Law is the central executive

body implementing the state policy in the field of migration (immigration and emigration), including

combating illegal (irregular) migration, citizenship and registration of individuals, refugees and other

defined by legislation categories of migrants. However, this does not correspond to the Regulation on the

State Migration Service of Ukraine and is a fundamentally wrong approach to solving the issues of IDPs.

Thus, this law is designed to solve social and economic problems of displaced persons and to provide

them with assistance. However, the State Migration Service of Ukraine and its agencies have only the

function of registration and control over the movement of citizens. Authorities, which would be called

upon to assist in solving the problems of IDPs, are the bodies of the Ministry of Social Policy, which are

currently working towards provision of practical assistance to the specified category of persons. However,

the range of issues facing the internally displaced persons by far exceeds the competence of the Ministry

of Social Policy, as the affect the exclusive competence of the Pension Fund, the Ministry of Education

and Science, the Ministry of Health and other.

In the text of the draft law there is no definition of specific procedure for obtaining humanitarian and

financial assistance, benefits, opportunities for obtaining preferential mortgage and consumer loans or

refinancing of certain types of loans by the state, tax benefits in the course of recovery of economic

activity; also, there are no correspondent dispositions to the legislative acts associated with these legal

relationships.

Since the adoption of this law in practice would lead to the complication of access of internally displaced

persons to social and civil protection of the population and human rights violations, the human rights and

other civil society organizations engaged in addressing the problems of IDPs, since June 23 have been

holding conduct a campaign, which aims to prevent the entry into force of such a law. Ukrainian human

rights activists appealed to the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko:

1. When considering the draft law #4998-1 On the legal status of persons who are forced to leave their

places of residence due to the temporary occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Sevastopol

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and circumstances related to the implementation of the anti-terrorist operation in the territory of Ukraine

adopted on June 19, 2014 by the Verkhovna Rada, to apply the President’s right of veto, provided by

Article 94 of the Constitution of Ukraine.

2. To apply to the Verkhovna Rada with a request to return to consideration the draft law #4998 of

03.06.2014 On protection of the rights of internally displaced persons (updated on 17.06.2014) with the

involvement in its improvement of public organizations dealing with internally displaced persons.

The full statement is available on the website of the Information Center for Human Rights1.

RIGHT TO EDUCATION

On 6 May, Art. 7 of the Law of Ukraine On ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens and the legal

regime on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine was amended with regard to the right to

education. According to the introduced amendments, Ukrainian citizens, who reside in Crimea or moved

to the mainland of Ukraine, are entitled to continue receiving a certain educational level in other regions

of Ukraine at the expense of the state budget.

In order to implement this provision the Ministry of Education and Science adopted the following Orders:

#556 - approved the interim procedure for transfer to education of students, graduate and doctoral

students from universities and research institutions located in the temporarily occupied territory; #655 -

provides for the procedure for obtaining Ukrainian diplomas by students who graduated from higher

educational institutions in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.

However, in June, the Crimean students who studied on a commercial basis or based on a competitive

selection process did not get the state-subsidized places in the universities of Ukraine were denied

obtaining the state-subsidized places guaranteed in Art. 7 of the Law of Ukraine On ensuring the rights

and freedoms of citizens and the legal regime on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. The heads

of higher educational institutions explained such cases by the fact that the Ukrainian budget has not been

amended accordingly allowing for allocation of additional budget funds to subsidize the additional places

for students from Crimea.

Many pupils, who graduated from school this year in Crimea and were trained based on the Ukrainian

curriculum, received the Russian certificates of secondary education. This leads to difficulties in entering

higher educational institutions of Ukraine.

PROVISION OF HOUSING

The problem of provision of temporary accommodation is not settled so far. The Resolution of the

Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine #213 of 25 June, allocated 25 166.19thous. UAH to provide financial

assistance in order to accommodate families that moved from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and

Sevastopol city. The money was allocated to Vinnytsia, Volyn, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk,

Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolayiv, Odessa, Rivne, Khmelnytsky, Chernihiv Oblast State Administrations and the Kyiv

City State Administration. This Resolution applies only to families currently residing in the resort and

recreational facilities, social protection institutions, hostels and hotels of mainland Ukraine. The monetary

assistance is transferred to the accounts of resort and recreational facilities, social protection institutions,

hostels and hotels. The displaced persons do not receive monetary assistance.

However, the Ministry of Finance has not yet developed the appropriate procedure for the use of this

money, which makes it impossible to get such financial assistance. Furthermore, the distribution of funds

to the regions of Ukraine, according to experts and human rights activists, is irrational. Thus, comparing

the budget allocation with the number of registered displaced persons (Overview of population

displacement, OCHA), leads to the following ratios:

in Vinnytsia region there are 469 Crimeans - 532 thousand UAH allocated, in Zaporizhia region there are

457 Crimeans - 623 thousand UAH allocated, in Odessa region there are 313 Crimeans (2641 persons) - 9

million 829 UAH allocated.

1 http://humanrights.com.ua/257-zvernennia-do-prezydenta-shchodo-zakonu-pro-vnutrishno-peremishchenykh-

osib

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The reimbursement for the rent by IDPs of temporary housing in the private households and financial

assistance for them is not envisaged by the current legislation of Ukraine.

REGISTRATION

The separate procedure for the registration of residence for IDPs from Crimea is not provided so far. This

leads to a significant restriction of the rights of citizens of Ukraine in the sphere of individual business

activity, legal entity, employment, registration of property rights etc.

On 17 June, the Parliament of Ukraine passed the draft law on introducing amendments to the Law of

Ukraine On ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens and the legal regime on the temporarily occupied

territory of Ukraine (regarding the place of residence and the right to education). It provides for a

simplified procedure for the IDPs from Crimea, under which the persons displaced from Crimea and those

who remained in Crimea are entitled to receive in the State Migration Service of Ukraine the certificates

confirming their place of residence. Such certificates according to the draft law are issued to citizens on

the day of application on the basis of Ukrainian passport and a written statement, indicating the address

at which a citizen can receive official correspondence. But these changes have not yet been signed by the

President of Ukraine and did not come into force.

In addition, the Ukrainian authorities still have not established a unified system of registry the persons

displaced from Crimea. A separate database for the registration of such persons is maintained by the

departments of social protection, but these databases include only persons who receive social benefits,

assistance or pensions; other individuals are not included in this database. Separate databases are

maintained by community organizations that address issues of temporary accommodation of displaced

persons.

PROPERTY. BANKS

To date, the issue of unblocking and recovering the bank accounts, including the business and deposit

accounts for the displaced persons from Crimea remains largely unresolved. Most complaints come from

customers of “Privatbank”. Communicating with social workers and psychologists, people that were

forced to leave the peninsula, increasingly highlight the fact that the blocking of accounts in “Privatbank”

and other Ukrainian banks complicates social adaptation in mainland Ukraine, as well as takes away the

possibility of planning their family’s life in the circumstances. Some residents of Crimea, who had moved

to other regions of Ukraine, changed the place of registration of residence (for example, registered with

relatives), provided this information to the “Privatbank” (according to its illegal requirements), but were

denied the use of their deposit accounts or entrepreneurial accounts.

Crimean residents who have moved to other regions of Ukraine cannot register their vehicles, as it also

requires a new registration of the place of residence in the relevant region.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

The lack of a simplified system for changing the registration of the place of residence for citizens of

Ukraine, who left Crimea, is blocking the possibility of continuing economic activities of individual

entrepreneurs from Crimea, who wish to continue their activities in other regions of Ukraine. Moreover,

the tax authorities of Ukraine warn such entrepreneurs that they will be penalized because of late

submission of tax reports and payment of taxes and fees. However, most entrepreneurs do not have the

capacity to pay taxes and submit reports as they cannot change the location of a business entity. Such

difficulties are also faced by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which have the status of legal

entities.

EMPLOYMENT

According to the State Employment Service, for the period from 1 March to 1 July 2014 the employment

centers in Ukraine were addressed for employment assistance by 971 people from among the residents

of Crimea, of which 214 people were employed, 391 people were registered as unemployed, which

entitles them to receive financial assistance in the amount of the minimum wage (Appendix 9). Out of the

total 391 persons 366 individuals got neither the job, nor the unemployment status; it means that they

have no source of income. Furthermore, a significant number of persons displaced from Crimea do not

apply to employment centers as they are trying to find a job on their own.

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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

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

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ANNEXES

ANNEX 1

Application of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Crimea to Crimean authorities on the need to take action

in relation to cases of abduction of activists (L. Korzh, T.Shaimardanov, S. Zinedinov) and murder of Reshat Ametov

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ANNEX 2

Summons to Chief Editor of the Crimean Tatar newspaper “Avdet” Shevket Kaibullaev on the need to come to the

Prosecutor’s Office of Simferopol

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ANNEX 3

A leaflet calling to inform the FSS of Crimea about people who were “against the return of Crimea to the

Russian Federation or participated in the regional Maidan” (Simferopol)

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ANNEX 4

Response from the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine on the entry and exit to and from Crimea

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ANNEX 5

Stamp in the passport on the refusal of entry to Ukraine (at the checkpoint of the Border Guard Service of Ukraine)

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ANNEX 6

Ticket sales for the transportation to mainland of Ukraine based on international tariffs (railway station box office,

Simferopol city)

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ANNEX 7

The application of the representative of the Agrotrade LLC to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RF on

the seizure of premises, facilities, equipment, granary with crop harvest

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ANNEX 8

Information about orphans and children deprived of parental care in Crimea from the Ministry of Social Policy of

Ukraine

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ANNEX 9

Information from the State Employment Center of Ukraine on Crimean residents who addressed the regional

employment centers

Crimea Field Mission Report: June 2014

Documents

Transcript of Crimea Field Mission Report: June 2014