Freezing the conflict means intensifying repressions against Ukrainians in the occupied territories

Amid discussions on a “peaceful settlement” of the war, Ukrainian human rights defenders call for including humanitarian issues of residents of the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) in the negotiation process, warning of the risks of further repressions and human rights violations. On 28 March 2025, a coalition of organisations dealing with the protection of the rights of victims of armed aggression against Ukraine held an important discussion with international partners on the prospects for residents of Ukraine’s occupied territories in the context of peace negotiations.

ZMINA published a speech by Olha Skrypnyk, Head of the Crimean Human Rights Group, explaining the consequences of ignoring humanitarian challenges in the negotiation process.

The Crimean Human Rights Group has been operating in the temporarily occupied Crimea since 2014. For all these 11 years, our documenters have been recording international crimes committed by the Russian Federation on the peninsula. The Crimean Human Rights Group focuses on political persecution, torture, and other cruel manifestations of Russian policy towards the civilian population.

After 24 February 2022, we began documenting international crimes in the temporarily occupied parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

We are concerned about the proposals for settling the war and transitioning to peace that we are hearing. We understand that most of the models currently being proposed publicly are, basically imply a continuation of the occupation.

Freezing the conflict or a temporary ceasefire means that a significant number of Ukrainian citizens will remain under occupation. Moreover, we can’t ignore the possibility of new occupied territories emerging.

I would like to emphasise what the continuation of occupation means for the civilian population living in these territories.

During 11 years of temporary occupation, the Russian Federation has already managed to build its system of criminal and administrative persecution and a so-called political sphere. Some might get the impression that life in the occupied territories is not so bad. Russia actively promotes such narratives; however, statistics paint a completely different picture. The situation for the civilian population under occupation is only getting worse every year.

For example, political criminal prosecutions have intensified significantly. This concerns both Crimeans and residents of the so-called newly occupied territories, who are now being held in Crimean pre-trial detention centres. The number of such places of detention has also increased. Before the temporary occupation of Crimea, there was only one pre-trial detention centre in Simferopol, but after 2022, we became aware of at least three such centres (Nos. 1, 2, and 8) in Simferopol alone. In this way, Russia officially confirms that the number of places in these institutions has increased at least threefold.

The number of Ukrainian political prisoners also continues to grow: as of today, at least 260 Ukrainian citizens are behind bars in politically motivated cases.

The situation regarding women is particularly alarming. For comparison: at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, Crimean lists of politically persecuted persons included between three and five women, whereas now, our organisation’s list alone includes at least 18 such women. This means that the number of women being persecuted has almost increased fourfold, taking Crimea alone as an example.

The situation has worsened overall for vulnerable groups, including women.

Among these women are representatives of other groups requiring special attention, such as women over the age of 60. Recently, an illegal “court” on the peninsula sentenced 66-year-old Nina Tymoshenkoі to 16 years in prison. This is the longest sentence given to a woman Kremlin prisoner that we are aware of to date.

For comparison: before the full-scale invasion, the harshest sentence for a woman in a politically motivated criminal case was 12 years in prison, as in the case against Halyna Dovhopola.

A few weeks ago, an occupation “court” sentenced a young woman from Sevastopol to 10 years in prison despite suspicions that she has cancer. Her health condition did not stop either the Russian security services (FSB) or the “court” under their control.

It should be noted that most of the persecuted women are either elderly or have young children, which makes them particularly vulnerable. Russian security forces exploit this vulnerability to exert pressure: in addition to torture, women are threatened with having their children taken away and sent to orphanages in Russia.

Unfortunately, the methods of political repression used by Russia in Crimea are spreading to other Ukrainian territories occupied after 24 February 2022, in particular to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Despite Russia’s establishment of occupation “courts” in these territories, most cases against residents of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions are still being heard in Crimea. Even if a case is formally heard by a so-called local “court”, the accused is often held in a pre-trial detention centre in Simferopolі . The “court hearing” takes place via video link. Thus, Crimea continues to function as a central base for the criminal prosecution of civilians from the recently occupied territories of the south of Ukraine.

Another serious problem is the growing number of Ukrainian citizens who are being forcibly displaced to the territory of the Russian Federation.

Recently, our organisation submitted materials concerning a specific category of persecuted individuals – journalists – to the International Commission of Inquiry. According to our data, at least 18 of them are imprisoned in Crimea precisely because of their professional activities. Seventeen are held on the territory of the Russian Federation. Vladyslav Yesypenko, a freelance correspondent of Krym.Realii is the only one serving a prison sentence in Kerch.

The same practice is applied to women: according to our information, all women prisoners, without exception, are also illegally transferred to Russia after sentencing. This makes it much more difficult to locate them and provide assistance, as a significant number of Russian lawyers refuse to work on Ukrainian political cases, especially those involving civilians.

Ukraine has no real effective mechanisms for searching for civilians – men and women – who have been forcibly displaced to the Russian Federation.

The situation is complicated by the fact that, as practice shows, even after the end of their illegal imprisonment, these people are often denied the opportunity to return home to Ukraine. There are confirmed cases in which Ukrainian citizens, including released political prisoners, continue to be held in Russia after formally serving their sentences.

For example, one such citizen, arrested in 2015, was placed in a so-called centre for the temporary detention of foreign nationals in the Krasnodar Krai for an indefinite period after serving a 10-year illegal sentence. The formal reason for continuing his detention is a violation of Russian migration law due to an expired Ukrainian passport, which did not have a photo affixed after he turned 25. The chance of his release depends solely on political agreements.

Another Crimean political prisoner, released around the same time after serving seven years in prison, faced a new criminal case on charges of allegedly inciting hatred.

Thus, after being released in Russia, Ukrainian citizens who have served illegal sentences have only two options: either new imprisonment on trumped-up charges or indefinite detention in the centre for the temporary detention of foreign nationals. There are practically no other options for them at present.

Another indication of the deteriorating situation is the illegal mobilisation in the TOT. Before 2022, those mobilised in Crimea were mostly left to serve in the TOT of the peninsula. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has been actively usingі them in combat operations against Ukraine in the Ukrainian territory, which constitutes a war crime.

We see and understand that the ongoing occupation is leading to a further deterioration in people’s conditions. It also allows Russia to scale up repressive practices developed in Crimea and to implement actions that are not only gross violations of human rights but are also clearly inhumane, going beyond any humanitarian perception of what is happening.