Invaders in Crimea illegally imprison 186 Ukrainian citizens

"As of August 28, it is known that the occupiers in Crimea illegally imprisoned 186 Ukrainian citizens. Of them, 123 are representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar pele. Of the total number of pitical prisoners, 30 are arrested, 138 are in prison, 18 have no status," the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea reports.

The Mission notes that the occupation court increased the punishment of a 61-year-d man for the so-called "participation in the Crimean Tatar Noman Çelebicihan Battalion". The occupiers illegally found the man guilty and sentenced him to two years of imprisonment in a general regime penal facility with a one-year restriction of liberty. The name and surname of the illegally convicted person are not specified.

Moreover, Crimean Tatar human rights defender Server Mustafayev, sentenced to 14 years in prison, was placed in a punishment cell of the Russian penal facility in Tambov. The activist is threatened with being transferred to a strict and maximally restricted facility for the detention of convicted persons, he is not allowed to contact his relatives, his books were taken away, including the Quran, he is not given meals in normal portions, and is not allowed to drink.

The Russian penal facility demands that citizen journalist and nurse Iryna Danylovych, who was illegally sentenced to almost seven years in prison, pay for househd items. Her father noted that she was demanded to pay even for uniform that previously belonged to other prisoners. In addition, the journalist complains about the lack of medical assistance — after being transferred to the Russian Federation, she was deprived of her medicines. As a result, she completely lost hearing in the left ear.

Representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses religious organization also continue to be persecuted. Last week, in the temporarily occupied Crimea, security forces detained the leader of its Dzhankoy branch. The occupiers illegally initiated a criminal case against him for the participation in the activities of the regional group "Jehovah's Witnesses" – "Syvash".