ZMINA spoke about the persecution of journalists in Crimea at a meeting of UNESCO and the Office of the Crimean Platform

On 5 June 2025, a closed consultation meeting between UNESCO and the Office of the Crimean Platform was held at the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, UNESCO, human rights organisations, educational and scientific institutions, and the media.

The event addressed key issues related to the situation in the occupied Crimea in the context of human rights, freedom of speech, education, culture, ecology and preservation of natural heritage.

Viktoriia Nesterenko, Project Manager of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA, delivered a report on the persecution of journalists in Crimea. She spoke about cases of persecution of journalists on the occupied peninsula: “During the period from May 2024 to May 2025, the Human Rights Centre ZMINA documented at least 47 cases of pressure on both professional media and citizen journalists and freelancers. The most common types of persecution are attacks using legal and economic mechanisms, of which we documented 44, as well as physical attacks, which are threats to life and health, of which we documented three“.

In addition, as Viktoriia Nesterenko noted, these 47 cases for the mentioned period concern a limited number of people, both representatives of professional publications and individual citizen journalists and freelancers. Most of these cases involve the persecution of Crimean Solidarity journalists, journalists from several other online media outlets, and several freelance journalists whose names are not disclosed for security reasons, explained the ZMINA project manager.

“This number of persecutions is not high compared to previous years, but this does not mean that the situation with freedom of expression and media freedom in the occupied Crimea has improved in any way. On the contrary, it means that there is a rather small number of journalists left in Crimea who can work freely,” said Viktoriia Nesterenko.

She also added that Russia has now increased pressure on relatives of journalists residing in government-controlled territory of Ukraine and that legislative restrictions by the Russian Federation are being tightened: “The mechanisms of legislative pressure from the Russian Federation are becoming more severe, in particular, restricting access to information, limiting journalists’ access to courts… VPN services and some websites remain blocked. There have also been reports of possible liability for using them“.

Viktoriia Nesterenko drew special attention to the condition of political prisoners, who are often held in inhumane conditions – both in pre-trial detention centres and in penal colonies, as well as to the almost absence of exchanges of civilian Ukrainians: “There are practically no exchanges of civilians, and 18 Crimean journalists remain in Russian prisons. Сitizen journalists such as Iryna Danylovych, Remzi Bekirov, Amet Suleimanov and Tymur Ibrahimov need medical care; furthermore, Remzi Bekirov is often held in a punishment cell“.

Within the framework of the event, the project manager of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA presented the UNESCO representatives with “The Free Voices of Crimea”, a book that collects the stories of Crimean political prisoners who continue to fight for freedom even behind bars.

The UNESCO representatives stressed the importance of cooperation with civil society and the Ukrainian authorities, as well as the need to introduce preventive mechanisms to protect cultural heritage and freedom of speech even during the war.

This is the third meeting of this format between the UNESCO Office in Ukraine and the civil sector organised since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Photo: Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.