occupation

Gafarov-Shyring list: how Russia is killing political prisoners in Crimea
Articles - 18 July 2023

Gafarov-Shyring list: how Russia is killing political prisoners in Crimea

Tetyana Pechonchyk emphasized the importance of publicizing information about political prisoners. In her opinion, it is essential to tell the stories of illegally imprisoned Ukrainian citizens, spread them on social media and abroad, put pressure on Russia, initiate new resolutions of the European Parliament, and raise issues at the level of the OSCE and UN bodies so that Ukrainian citizens, political prisoners at risk with complex diseases, are released first and unconditionally

Mariupol policewoman Mariana Chechelyuk’s health has deteriorated significantly over the year of captivity
News - 18 July 2023

Mariupol policewoman Mariana Chechelyuk’s health has deteriorated significantly over the year of captivity

For a year, the occupiers transported the woman from one prison to another, subjected her to physical and psychological pressure, and created unbearable detention conditions. Currently, Mariana Chechelyuk needs medical care, which is not provided to her in the Taganrog detention center

Political prisoner Server Mustafayev shares about poor conditions in Russian prison and lack of medical aid
News - 18 July 2023

Political prisoner Server Mustafayev shares about poor conditions in Russian prison and lack of medical aid

Maye Mustafayeva and her and Server’s children, eight-year-old Yusuf and five-year-old Naji visited the political prisoner in Tambov prison. The family was allowed to come for an extended three-day visit from July 3 to 6

How to return Ukrainian journalism to the de-occupied territories?
Articles - 17 July 2023

How to return Ukrainian journalism to the de-occupied territories?

ZMINA collected the opinions of journalists and experts

A story of a man spent two months in captivity in the Russian pre-trial detention center with other civilians and volunteers
Articles - 03 July 2023

A story of a man spent two months in captivity in the Russian pre-trial detention center with other civilians and volunteers

Yevhen Yamkovyi, a resident of Kahovka, a city in the Kherson region on the left bank of the Dnipro river occupied by Russian forces, was detained at the checkpoint “Armyansk” in the northern part of the Crimean peninsula on January 6, 2023. Then, he was transferred to the pre-trial detention center No. 2 in Simferopol, […]

A witness account of abduction and torture in Hornostaivka village, Kherson region
Articles - 26 June 2023

A witness account of abduction and torture in Hornostaivka village, Kherson region

Read a full witness testimony of Serhii, a Kherson region resident, about his abduction and torture experience. Due to safety concerns, ZMINA changed the name of the torture survivor

Torture as a policy of suppressing Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion – Report
Articles - 23 June 2023

Torture as a policy of suppressing Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion – Report

The analytical report, prepared by ZMINA, provides a detailed account of documented policies, locations, profiles of main targets among civilians, and portraits of typical perpetrators of Russian occupying forces in Ukraine who brutally mistreated people from the Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions

Volunteer Yaroslav Zhuk stated that he was tortured in the Rostov pre-trial detention center
News - 19 June 2023

Volunteer Yaroslav Zhuk stated that he was tortured in the Rostov pre-trial detention center

Yaroslav Zhuk made a statement about torture with a shocker and brutal beating by officials of the Rostov-on-Don pre-trial detention center as soon as the court hearing in his case based on trumped-up charges began in early June of this year. Zhuk is a car mechanic and a resident of Melitopol, a city in the […]

Dmytro and Olena from Kupyansk imprisoned for sending SBU pictures of Russian equipment: Couple tells how they waited for town liberation in captivity
Articles - 07 November 2022

Dmytro and Olena from Kupyansk imprisoned for sending SBU pictures of Russian equipment: Couple tells how they waited for town liberation in captivity

During the occupation of Kupyansk, 30-year-old local resident Dmytro Hrechanyi was taking photos and recording videos of the movement of Russian military equipment and sending them along with geolocation marks to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). In early August, Dmytro and his girlfriend Olena [name is changed] were summoned to the police station for questioning: they were asked whether they cooperated with the Ukrainian special services. During the interrogation, the occupiers made a backup copy of the man's phone and found previously deleted pictures of military equipment. Both of them were imprisoned and held separately.

‘Do you need a corpse?’: reportage from Izyum hospital where hundreds of civilians, including those tortured almost to death by Russians, were saved during occupation
Articles - 10 October 2022

‘Do you need a corpse?’: reportage from Izyum hospital where hundreds of civilians, including those tortured almost to death by Russians, were saved during occupation

From the beginning of the full-scale invasion and until the liberation of Izyum from the Russian occupiers, the Izyum Central Hospital did not stop working even for a day. During the month of the heaviest shelling and bombing, seven people, including a plumber, an electrician, nurses, a traumatologist and a surgeon, provided care to hundreds of injured and sick. ZMINA tells how surgeries were performed and babies were born in the basement of the dilapidated hospital, as well as how two civilians tortured almost to death by the Russians were saved here.

Road for survival. How Ukrainians from occupied South cross Vasylivka to break free
Articles - 08 September 2022

Road for survival. How Ukrainians from occupied South cross Vasylivka to break free

 ZMINA talked to people, volunteers, and drivers who crossed the checkpoints in Vasylivka. In a few months, they turned into a separate world, subject to the changing mood of the occupiers – lawlessness reigns here, people have to spend nights by the road in tents and cars or neighboring villages, undergo humiliating inspections, and do not have access to healthcare. The physically and psychologically exhausting wait for departure has already claimed the lives of more than ten people.

‘I came for a cross to put on grave of murdered girl and was hit in teeth with buttstock’: reportage on Russian war crimes in Chernihiv region’s village
Articles - 30 August 2022

‘I came for a cross to put on grave of murdered girl and was hit in teeth with buttstock’: reportage on Russian war crimes in Chernihiv region’s village

At the end of June, a ZMINA journalist visited Shestovytsia together with the Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv experts who document the Russian war crimes of the Russians within Ukraine 5 AM Coalition. The article tells about life in the village during the occupation.

At least six thousand people remain in “internats” on the occupied territories
News - 30 March 2022

At least six thousand people remain in “internats” on the occupied territories

Human rights defenders call upon Ministries and other responsible bodies to assess the situation with internats in the war-affected areas and organize the evacuation of those that can be evacuated as soon as possible. 

For the second time in two weeks an activist was attacked in Ivano-Frankivsk
News - 17 August 2017

For the second time in two weeks an activist was attacked in Ivano-Frankivsk

The attacker threatened to kill the victim and other activists who were walking alongside him

Human rights defenders consider crimes committed by Crimean paramilitary formations as war crimes
News - 16 August 2017

Human rights defenders consider crimes committed by Crimean paramilitary formations as war crimes

They published an analytical report after analyzing the impact of Russian militarization on the situation with human rights in Crimea

Near Simferopol Crimean Tatar Izetov was taken to interrogation after his house was searched
News - 11 May 2017

Near Simferopol Crimean Tatar Izetov was taken to interrogation after his house was searched

This is the fourth “meeting” of law enforcers with Izetov

FSB has beaten and kidnapped the son of the Head of the Sudak Mejlis
News - 08 May 2017

FSB has beaten and kidnapped the son of the Head of the Sudak Mejlis

The reason for the search was an anonymous letter on the illegal circulation of arms and drugs and alleged involvement of Ametov

Amnesty International recognized historian Kozlovskyy as a prisoner of conscience
News - 05 May 2017

Amnesty International recognized historian Kozlovskyy as a prisoner of conscience

Amnesty International calls the case on charges of weapons possession fabricated and the proceedings as absurd