313. On 8 May, the League of Muslim Women “Insaf” informed the HRMMU that some 150
persons from Kirovskoye and Stary Krym, including women, were being called in for
interrogations. Reportedly, they were being invited to the local police stations for “a
conversation”. They were reportedly fingerprinted and photographed.
314. On 20 May, the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church made a statement expressing
concern for the safety of the Greek Catholic priests remaining in Crimea. He reported that
all five Crimean parishes had experienced pressure, allegedly from the representatives of
the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
315. On 1 June, men in Russian Cossack uniforms reportedly broke into the local Orthodox
church of the Kyiv Patriarchate in the village of Perevalnoe (Crimea), shouting and
terrorizing churchgoers. The car of the priest was allegedly damaged. The “Cossacks” said
they were seizing the building for the Moscow Patriarchate. After three hours, the
“Crimean self-defence” arrived with assault rifles and sided with the attackers. The police
were called but reportedly did not show readiness to properly investigate the incident. On 2
June, the local authorities of the city of Evpatoriya conducted a check of the church
documentation and called it an “illegal building”. In addition, the authorities in Crimea
significantly raised the rent for the main Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Simferopol. The
rent increase has not affected Crimean Tatar mosques or Russian Orthodox churches.
Mosques and Russian churches on the peninsula either belong to the religious communities
(mosques) or to the Moscow Patriarchate (Russian churches) or are rented for a token fee.
B.
Economic, social and cultural rights
316. Crimean residents face serious challenges in realizing their rights under the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR). This can be attributed, in part,
to the complicated transition between two different legal systems, but also to the absence of
appropriate reactions of the authorities in Crimea to human rights violations affecting
certain communities. This concerns, in particular, the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar
communities who are being harassed, assaulted and prosecuted for speaking Ukrainian or
Tatar languages in public places or using national symbols. Such conditions are also
reflected in the diminishing possibilities to receive education in another language than
Russian, particularly in Ukrainian.
Language and education
317. There are only two Ukrainian schools in Crimea: in Yalta and Simferopol. According to the
head of the Department of Education in Simferopol, three out of four classes in the
Simferopol gymnasium will now use the Russian language. The decision is motivated by
the decision of 86 % of the parents who reportedly decided to switch to Russian-language
studies. The director of the gymnasium was allegedly forced to resign. There is information
that the local authorities in Sevastopol are planning to close the only Ukrainian boarding
school/orphanage.
318. On 14 May, the press service of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian
Federation reported that teachers of the Ukrainian language and literature of general
educational institutions could be re-trained to become teachers of the Russian language and
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