Russia has continued to violate human rights for pro-Ukrainian views against people, who live on the occupied territory of Crimea since 2014.
On October 6, Imprisoned Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov ended his 145-day hunger strike, on which he demanded to release 64 Ukrainian prisoners. He was arrested on terrorism charges and was sentenced to 20-years in prison, according to the World Report 2019, published by Human Rights Watch on January 17. This is the 29th annual review of human rights practices around the globe, summarizing key human rights issues in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide, drawing on events from late 2017 through November 2018.
Russian forces also targeted Crimean Tatars who claimed the occupation to be a terrorist act. Russian authorities harassed Tatars, searched their homes and detained them for questioning.
HRW reports, that Russian authorities arrested a Crimean Tatar Ismaiil Ramazanov for comments he made online in January. In court hearing he stated that the police officers beat him, while authorities refused to investigate his claims. In July, he was released.
In May, Russian authorities arrested Server Nustafayev and Edem Smailov for their alleged involvement with the Islamist movement. He was banned as a terrorist in Russia, but not in Ukraine. 21 more men with terrorism-related charges have remained in pretrial custody yet.
