«Krym-SOS» reports on abductions in Crimea during the occupation period: 36 out of 43 cases were organized by the Russian Federation state bodies

The public organization «Krym-SOS» reported about «Enforced disappearances in Crimea during the annexation period by the Russian Federation to present time.2014-2016» on Thursday, March 23, in Kiev.

The authors of the report suggest that 36 out of 43 cases of people’s abductions in the occupied peninsula had all evidences related to the Russian special services in Crimea.

18 missing people have not been found so far after the annexation of peninsula. 17 people were found in the spring 2014. 6 missing persons afterwards were found dead. 2 people after the abduction were convicted in Russia.

«The enforced abductions are a serious violation of international law and human rights and entail individual responsibility. There is not only the responsibility of the state, but also definite people who were involved in it. Within a report, we also tried to gather information about those who committed the crimes or were somehow involved in their commission», one of the authors and an expert from the Krym-SOS, Evgeniya Andreiuk explained.

The report covers two periods as a co-author of the report Maria Kvitsinskaya said. It is a spring 2014, second period is from June 2014 to the present day.

«In the second half the victims as a rule are the Crimean Tatars. And most of them or at least some of them are not political or social activists. It is important to note that the abductions are organized more professionally in the solitary places. As a rule, there are no witnesses», Kvitsinskaya told.

The collected data by experts and human rights defenders will be passed to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

«This service deals directly with the topic. Later the report is needed to support the sanctions policy and develop it, not just to inform thus sanctions are imposed for human rights violations as well. (...) for now the sanctions specifically for human rights violations are not introduced», Yevgenia Andreiuk said.

To remind some facts, the «Krym-SOS» activists told about the missing people on the peninsula on the monthly protest “Where is Erwin?” under the Russian Embassy in Kiev within the information campaign «Find & Free» on February 24.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the occupied Crimea refuses to investigate crimes. The activists and human rights activists note that a lot of the unidentified enforced abductions were happened in the occupied Crimea.