48th session of the Human Rights Council
Item 3
Interactive dialogue with the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions
Intervention by Ukraine
(Geneva, September 20, 2021)
Mr Vice-President,
While appreciating the work done by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, I am compelled to raise before the Council and the Group one urgent issue which requires their immediate attention.
Two weeks ago, several days after the release of the UN Secretary-General’s report on the human rights situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea, we all witnessed another proof of the Russian occupying power’s brutality and its total disregard of international human rights treaties and norms of international humanitarian law. Five Crimean Tatars - first deputy chairman of the Mejlis Nariman Dzhelyalov, Eldar Odamanov, Aziz Akhtemov, Asan Akhtemov, and Shevket Useinov, had been unlawfully searched and then deprived of their liberty.
Aziz and Asan Akhtemovs, Nariman Dzhelyalov are being accused of complicity in inflicting physical damage to a gas pipeline supplying gas to one of Russia’s military units in the occupied peninsula. The so-called "court" in temporarily occupied Crimea has ruled to remand them in custody until November 4. According to Russian legislation, this charge implies imprisonment for up to 15 years.
The individuals detained by the Russian occupation authorities in Crimea and Donbas have no recourse to justice and cannot access legal remedies. To end this heinous practice, it is crucial for the UN human rights mechanisms to speak directly to Russia on its responsibility under international law.
We call on the international community, including within the framework of the Crimea Platform, to step up pressure on the Russian Federation to make it halt gross violations of human rights in the temporarily occupied Crimea and Donbas.
I thank you.