UN calls on Russia to investigate murders of Crimean Tatars

The UN member states called on the Russian authorities to stop harassment on ethnic grounds and to release illegally detained Ukrainian citizens.

According to the Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry website, October 30, the joint statement of 36 states on the situation of human rights in Crimea, temporarily occupied by Russia, was announced within the framework of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly. The statement was initiated by the Ukrainian delegation.

The international community once again expressed its deep concern over the situation in Crimea in connection with gross human rights violations committed by the occupation authorities of the peninsula, which had been confirmed by the reports of the international monitoring missions.

“The Member States of the United Nations called on the Russian authorities to bring to an immediate end all human rights abuses on ethnic grounds, to abolish discriminatory laws, to immediately release illegally detained Ukrainian citizens, including director Oleg Sentsov, to conduct the transparent investigation into the murder and disappearance of the Crimean Tatars and civil society activists and to hold liable those responsible for these crimes,” reads the statement.

The co-authors of the statement noted the need to allow unconditional and immediate access of the international human rights missions to the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol.

The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine noted that the statement confirmed continued international support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the demands on Russia to stop gross and systematic violations of the international law.

As a reminder, the offices of the ATR Crimean Tatar TV Channel and the “15 Minutes” media outlet were searched yesterday and the computer equipment was seized. The Federal Security Service of the Russian federation conducted searches in the apartments of director general of the ATR Elzara Islyamova and her deputy Lilya Budzhurova The searches were allegedly linked with the criminal case against Lenur Islyamov, the owner of the ATR TV channel and one of the initiators of the ongoing campaign to block the trucks carrying food products to Crimea.