On freedom of assembly in Crimea: new realities

On May 16, the Council of Ministers of Crimea banned the holding of mass events in the territory until June 6, explaining this by “ongoing events in many cities in the south-east of Ukraine, as a result of which there are casualties and injuries from the civilian population” and the goal of “eliminating possible provocations from extremists who have the opportunity to enter the territory of the Republic of Crimea in order to avoid disruption of the holiday season in the Republic of Crimea.” Local authorities have been asked to cancel events already planned for this period. The governor of Sevastopol, Sergei Menyailo, signed a similar order.

The UN report on human rights in Ukraine, released the day before, said, in particular, that the Russian legislation being introduced on the territory of Crimea establishes restrictions on the freedoms of peaceful assembly. Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Boris Vishnevsky sent a statement to the Investigative Committee due to the fact that the decree banning public events in Crimea is a violation of the Russian Constitution, since regional heads do not have such powers. In addition, in his opinion, this violates Article 149 of the Criminal Code (obstruction of a rally, meeting, demonstration, procession, picketing or participation in them, committed by an official using his official position) and 286 of the Criminal Code (abuse of official powers).

The resolution came just at the time of holding traditional events in Crimea in memory of the deportation of the peoples of Crimea (2014 marked the 65th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars). Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov called the ban on events an “inhumane act.”

It was planned that on May 17, on Lenin Square in Simferopol, the Crimean Tatar Youth Center would hold the “Light a Fire in Your Heart” event, during which people were supposed to lay out the national symbol of the Crimean Tatar people Tarak-Tamga, a map of Crimea and the words “No genocide” from lighted candles. However, Lenin Square was cordoned off, and the organizer of the action, member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariev announced the cancellation of the action.

On May 18, a large-scale rally was expected in the center of Simferopol, similar to those that had been held in Crimea on the occasion of the sad date for many years. However, in a document signed by the head of the Council of Ministers, Sergei Aksenov, it was said that holding the event in the city center was inappropriate and should be held in the area of ​​the Abdal cemetery on the outskirts. Traffic was blocked on the central streets of the Crimean capital, police and riot police forces were used in the cordon, as well as armored personnel carriers , reinforced squads were on duty in the area of ​​the railway station and at the entrances to the cities, and military helicopters flew in the sky.

At the same time, on May 23, the festival of Cossack culture “Crimean Tulumbasy-2014” began in Crimea. According to Radio Liberty, the event is held under the patronage of the Council of Ministers, whose press secretary Ekaterina Polonchuk said that holding the festival does not contradict the ban, since “the festival is held in different cities in closed spaces.” (The publication “15 Minutes” provides a more detailed explanation from Polonchuk: “This format was specially selected so as not to violate the decree. That is, this festival is not one mass event. It was specially divided into different territories.”) However, the award ceremony for the scientific prize winners Turkology “The World of Bekir Choban-zade”, which was also supposed to be held indoors (though not in different cities, but only in Simferopol), was banned, and Polonchuk could not explain why. “There are probably some specific criteria for mass events,” Radio Liberty quotes her. Due to the ban, it was decided to postpone the requiem meeting in memory of the executed prisoners of war in Kerch to June.

Chubarov noted that the ban on holding events until June 6 is due to the fact that the Great Russian Word festival will begin on this day.

Shortly before the adoption of the scandalous ban in Crimea, Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation was applied for the first time. This happened after on May 3, residents of Crimea began to block highways on the peninsula due to the fact that the leader of the Crimean Tatars, People's Deputy of Ukraine Mustafa Dzhemilev was not allowed into the territory of Crimea. Representative of the Crimean Field Mission for Human Rights Andrey Krysko told OVD-Info that no one was detained that day, but then a number of people were charged with violating the rules for holding mass events, without always presenting sufficient evidence. At least 49 administrative protocols were drawn up. According to the head of the Crimean human rights center “Action” Alexandra Dvoretskaya, cases of administrative violations were opened in five regions of Crimea, including 3 cases in Simferopol and 17 in Bakhchisarai. In most cases, the courts sentenced people to fines ranging from 10 to 40 thousand rubles; two cases were dismissed, one was sent to the police department for further processing. In three cases no protocols were drawn up; everything was limited to issuing warnings. Appeals have been filed in all cases, Dvoretskaya said.

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Standard decision in an administrative case

In addition, when Dzhemilev tried to enter Crimea on May 3, his supporters, who arrived to meet him at the Armyansk border point, broke through the Russian military cordon, resulting in a brawl. On May 4, the Crimean prosecutor’s office sent resolutions to the Investigative Committee and the FSB “to organize criminal prosecution against the perpetrators” on the fact of “illegal public actions of an extremist nature” in Armyansk, “related to mass riots, blocking of highways, illegal crossing of the state border of the Russian Federation, connected with obstruction of the legitimate activities of government bodies, as well as the use of violence.” The prosecutor's office demanded that criminal cases be opened for mass riots, the use of violence against government officials, and illegal border crossings. Crimean Prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya issued a warning to Chubarov to prevent him from carrying out extremist activities. So far there is no information about the initiation of criminal cases.

Meanwhile, the obstruction of holding mass meetings on the territory of Crimea was repeatedly noted earlier, including shortly after the adoption of the law of March 21 . Moreover, supporters of the annexation of Crimea to Russia were among the first to feel this: on March 30, an attempt was made in Kerch to stop a pro-Russian rally in support of the South-East of Ukraine. A representative of the local police, referring to Russian legislation, said that those who came did not have the right to hold a rally, since they did not give notice of its holding ten days in advance. True, in response, the rally participants said that they would not go anywhere, since the policeman was wearing a Ukrainian uniform.

However, the events of supporters of Ukrainian unity were also suppressed and dispersed by the forces of the so-called self-defense of Crimea. In Simferopol, only one site was left, in Shevchenko Park, remote from the city center.

Representatives of the local LGBT community planned to hold a gay pride parade on April 20 and 21 in Simferopol and April 23 in Sevastopol, but the Executive Committee of the Simferopol City Council and the Leninsky District State Administration of Sevastopol refused to coordinate the parade, citing the law banning the promotion of non-traditional sexual relationships among minors. Activists of the Moscow Gay Pride challenged these decisions in court, but on May 20, the Golovinsky District Court of Moscow declared the bans legal.

On April 28, representatives of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs prevented a rally in Sevastopol dedicated to the problem of bribery in the city and Crimea. The police demanded permits from those gathered and accused them of holding an unapproved event. The rally participants stated in response that there is a transitional integration period in Sevastopol until January 1, which guarantees the right to peaceful assembly.

At the moment, human rights activists working on the peninsula have no information about any procedural actions in the wake of mass events in Crimea, not counting the events of May 3.