The United State continues to receive reports of serious abuses in Russia-occupied Crimea and calls on Russia to release all Crimean political prisoners, including 21 Crimean Tartars detained last week, U.S. Charge d’Affaires to the OSCE Permanent Council Elisabeth Rosenstock-Siller has said.
“Occupation authorities conducted the second mass detention of Crimean Tatars in two weeks. Authorities detained 21 Crimean Tatars who gathered outside a courthouse to support political prisoners facing trial on Oct. 25. We call on Russia to release Edem Smedlayev, Igor Schmidt, Nariman Dzhelyal, all of the Crimean Tatars detained for peaceful activism this week, in addition to all of the more than 100 Crimean political prisoners it now holds,” Rosenstock-Siller said, posted on the website of the U.S. Mission to the OSCE.
She said that Deputy Head of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis Nariman Dzhelyal remains detained in a psychiatric facility, which is a blatant use of punitive psychiatry and falsely equates peaceful dissent with mental illness.
“We are deeply troubled by the news that a court in Sevastopol sentenced Jehovah’s Witness Igor Schmidt to six-years in prison for criminal extremism in retaliation for his peaceful religious practice. He is the fourth Crimean Jehovah’s Witness to receive a prison sentence of at least six years,” Rosenstock-Siller said.
In addition, the diplomat positively noted the fact that the protests at the hotel of the observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Donetsk had stopped and patrolling resumed.
“The international community depends on the reports of SMM monitors, but their safety is paramount. If Russia has a dispute with Ukraine, it should be resolved diplomatically. The multinational SMM is not a bargaining chip. This latest incident is a perfect illustration of why Russia should return to the Joint Control and Coordination Commission, or JCCC. Such a move would be an important step towards implementation of a durable ceasefire,” she said.
Rosenstock-Siller said that despite the end of the protests, the United States is urging Russia to allow the SMM to fulfill its mandate and monitor throughout Ukraine, which includes the Russia-controlled parts of Donbas and Russia-occupied Crimea.
“Russia must stop obstructing SMM patrols, jamming UAV flights, and tampering with SMM cameras,” she said.
The Chargé d’Affaire said the United States is urging Russia to reopen all entry-exit crossing points (EECP) along the Line of Contact to allow free movement of civilians. Civilians must be able to cross between Russia-controlled and government-controlled territory to retrieve pension payments, seek medical treatment, purchase medicine, and visit their families, she said.
“Meanwhile, Russia still blocks progress on security measures within the Trilateral Contact Group. Russia clearly demonstrates its disregard for the people living in territory it controls when it refuses to implement once again the additional measures to strengthen the ceasefire; these actions saved lives and cost Russia nothing,” she said.
Rosenstock-Siller said the United States supports Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.
“We do not, nor will we ever, recognize Russia’s purported annexation of Crimea. Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns full control of the peninsula to Ukraine. We join our European and other partners in affirming that our eastern Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia will remain in place until Russia fully implements its Minsk commitments,” she said.
In turn, the German Embassy in Ukraine also called on Russia to release political prisoners and stop the systematic persecution of the Crimean Tatars.
“Russia in Crimea must take responsibility as an occupying state, release political prisoners and end the systematic persecution of Crimean Tatars! Mass arrests of people who support them are unacceptable,” the German embassy said on Twitter on Nov. 2.
The diplomatic agency said the sentences passed on Akhmet Suleymanov, Rustem Seytmemetov, as well as Osman and Seytumer Seytumerov and providing a total of 56 years in prison, have no basis in the rule of law.
