Lutfiye Zudiyeva: The persecution of journalists in Crimea continues

Speech by Lutfiye Zudiyeva, a Crimean journalist and human rights activist, member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), at the NUJU online human rights forum called Trials over Freedom of Speech in Crimea: the Price of Journalistic Work.

Greetings from Crimea. It is very important and very warm to feel that the fate of our colleagues continues to remain in the field of view thanks to such meetings. I personally thank Sergiy Tomilenko for this work. I believe that sooner or later, this will lead to their release. I also want to wish all of you strength in your work, without which justice cannot be established. I believe that journalism changes the world and, together with you, is working to free our colleagues.

Unfortunately, since our last meeting, the list of imprisoned journalists in Crimea has increased again. At the moment, we know of 18 arrested journalists in Crimea who collaborated with various media outlets. Seventeen of them, unfortunately, have already been transferred from Crimea and are being held in prisons and colonies scattered throughout russia. Fifteen of them have already been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, for example, up to 19 years in prison. This is a very, very long term.

Today, colleagues will talk about what can be done to release them. I will try to tell you very briefly, very concisely, about what is happening to each of them right now because, in my opinion, this is very important.

The big problem that we see now with our colleagues is that they are not only losing their freedom, they are losing their health; they are losing the best years of their lives. And, perhaps, we can somehow at least strive to ensure that journalists can be provided with access by independent doctors, access by ombudsmen from other countries, perhaps third countries. So that we understand what is happening to them and can help them and somehow influence their state of health.

And in conclusion, I would also like to say that in February of this year, my house was also searched. My laptop and phone were confiscated. They were returned only three months later. As a result, four administrative cases have already been opened against me. All of them are due to journalistic texts, posts about political prisoners, about my colleagues, about people whose fates I study in Crimea.

Unfortunately, the persecution of journalists in Crimea continues. But our work – our joint work, because there are still many journalists working in Crimea – this work also continues. And I believe that it will not always be like this.

The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine held the online forum titled Trials over Freedom of Speech in Crimea: the Price of Journalistic Work on December 11, 2024, with the support of the Swedish human rights organization, Civil Rights Defenders.

According to the NUJU, at least 31 media workers are in captivity in the russian federation.

NUJU Information Service