A/HRC/44/21 framework for the return of Ukrainian detainees from the Russian Federation has yet to be found. D. House searches and raids 28. International human rights law prohibits arbitrary or unlawful interference with a person’s privacy, family, home or correspondence.33 States are required to ensure that there is no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or of the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.34 29. OHCHR has documented the fact that the searches and raids of private homes, businesses and meeting places in Crimea conducted between 1 January 2017 and 30 June 2019 disproportionally affected Crimean Tatars. 35 During the last six months of 2019, the number of reported house searches and raids affecting Crimean Tatars decreased, compared with similar periods in previous years. From 1 July to 31 December 2019, OHCHR documented eight searches, half of which affected Crimean Tatars.36 For instance, on 27 September 2019, in Sudak, law enforcement authorities of the Russian Federation searched the private house of a man believed to be associated with the Mejlis. On 14 November 2019, a search was carried out in the private house of a former Kurultai delegate in Bogatovka. 30. As in the previous reporting period, the authorities justified searches affecting Crimean Tatars by the need to seize materials, including handwritten notes or information on electronic devices, linking suspects to political or religious groups and organizations that are banned in the Russian Federation. These groups, however, operate freely and legally in Ukraine. E. Situation of fundamental freedoms 31. International human rights law guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of expression and the right to hold opinions; and the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association. Some manifestations or exercise of these rights may be subject to certain limitations or restrictions specified in international human rights law. 37 A free, uncensored and unhindered press or other media is essential to ensure the right to hold opinions and to freedom of expression and the enjoyment of other fundamental freedoms.38 International humanitarian law also provides that protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their religious convictions and practices.39 32. During the reporting period, criminalization of freedom of expression on social media continued in Crimea. OHCHR documented four cases, in which individuals (two men and two women) were convicted by courts in Crimea of administrative offences for their social media posts, with content deemed to be “extremist” under the law of the Russian Federation.40 For instance, on 2 July 2019, a city court in Sudak fined a Crimean Tatar man for having posted a video on his social network page six years previously (prior to the occupation of Crimea). He was convicted of “distribution of extremist materials” on 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 8 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 17; and European Convention on Human Rights, art. 8. European Convention on Human Rights, art. 8 (2). A/74/276, para. 18. During the same semester, 40 of the 42 searches (95 per cent) recorded in 2017 affected Crimean Tatars, as did 20 of the 25 searches (80 per cent) recorded in 2018. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, arts. 18–19 and 21–22. Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 34 (2011) on the freedoms of opinion and expression, para. 13. Fourth Geneva Convention, art. 27. In three cases, the posts concerned Hizb ut-Tahrir; the other case concerned a post that contained symbols of Right Sector. The definition of extremism is contained in the law of the Russian Federation on combating extremist activity, No. 114-FZ (25 July 2002).