The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group has released a report detailing the escalating political and religious persecution of Muslims in Crimea, focusing particularly on Crimean Tatar Muslims. The report indicates a deterioration over the past decade, coinciding with Russia’s increasingly stringent measures against opposition groups in the region.
The report alleges that since 2015, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSD) has intensified a campaign of persecution, marked by arrests on terrorism charges that are reportedly fabricated. These actions followed the Crimean annexation by Russia in 2014, which has met vocal opposition from Crimean Tatar communities. In a significant instance, Akhtem Chiygoz, a Crimean Tatar Mejlis leader, was arrested in 2015 under dubious terrorism-related allegations. His arrest, along with the subsequent arrest of four other Crimean Muslims, is purportedly part of a strategy to silence dissenters by means of unsubstantiated terrorism charges.
The comprehensive report from the Human Rights Protection Group highlights that, following Chiygoz’s arrest, family members and friends of civil activists also faced severe sentencing designed to suppress activism. The Russian Federal Security Service allegedly relies on fabricated evidence from FSB-loyal experts and unverifiable testimonies from anonymous witnesses, casting potential doubts on the fairness of trials and the integrity of evidence presented.
Moreover, Russia’s Supreme Court classified the transnational Muslim organization Hizb ut-Tahrir as a terrorist entity under a ruling that the report criticizes for its opacity and lack of supporting evidence. While the organization’s ideology remains controversial, it is legal in Ukraine. However, accusations of links to Hizb ut-Tahrir have been used by Russian authorities to justify long sentences—up to 20 years—on Crimean Tatars and other Muslims from the region. This has raised concerns over the potential misuse of terrorism allegations as a mechanism to exert control.
This application of Russian domestic laws to territory internationally recognized as Ukrainian is contentious, potentially conflicting with international humanitarian law. Under these laws, occupying powers are restricted in their ability to enforce new legislation, with allowances made only for maintaining public order, ensuring their own security, fulfilling international obligations, or enhancing civil life in the territory.
The full details of the report are available through the original coverage on JURIST, which continues to monitor and report the evolving legal context related to this issue.