Photo exhibition and film screening about Crimea will take place in Prague

Human Rights Centre ZMINA in cooperation with Prague Civil Society Centre is going to launch the photo exhibition “Stories from Occupied Crimea” on 12 April in Prague, Czech Republic. It will be followed by a screening of the film “Nariman: The Voice of Crimea”, a documentary about the life of a Crimean Tatar politician.

Since Russia occupied Crimea in 2014, the invaders have been persecuting Crimean Tatars and local activists for their pro-Ukrainian views. More than 150 people, mostly Crimean Tatars, were arrested for political reasons. In 2014-2016, 43 residents of Crimea were kidnapped, 11 of them are still missing. The repression against the local population continues.

The photo exhibition will acquaint the public with stories from the life of the population, which unexpectedly found itself under occupation and is forced to live in it. “Stories from Occupied Crimea” is a unique chronicle of life on the peninsula illegally annexed by Russia and documentary evidence of repression against Ukrainian citizens, in particular representatives of the Crimean Tatar people, captured by Ukrainian reporters Alina Smutko, Taras Ibragimov, and Alyona Savchuk. The authors of the photos were banned from entering the occupied Crimea and the Russian Federation for 10 to 35 years for their journalistic activities.

The photo exhibition will be opened from 12 till 21 of April, 2023.

During the opening of the exhibition, there will be a screening of the film “Nariman: The Voice of Crimea”. At the time of the illegal annexation of Crimea, Nariman Dzhelyal was the Vice-Chairman of the Mejlis, the representative body of the Crimean Tatar people. He stayed in Crimea under Russian occupation and did everything he could to help those who had put their trust in him. When the Russian occupation authority banned the Mejlis in 2016, Nariman continued his work to support the families of political prisoners and raise awareness about human rights violations in Crimea. In 2021 he and two other activists were sentenced on fabricated charges to 15 years in prison.

The film is in Ukrainian and Russian with English subtitles.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with the film’s director, the creators of the accompanying photo exhibition, and organisations advocating for human rights in Crimea.

When? Wednesday, April 12, 2023, at 17:30

Where? Kavárna Langhans, Vodičkova 707/37, Nové Město, Prague

Speakers:

Anna Tsyhyma, Director of the film “Nariman: The Voice of Crimea”

Aliona Savchuk, photojournalist whose work is featured in the exhibition

Tetiana Pechonchyk, Head of Board of Human Rights Centre ZMINA

Gulnara Abdulayeva, Crimean Tatar and historian

Moderator: Olha Kovalska, Ukrainian civil society specialist