On February 20, from 12:00 to 13:30 PM, the Media Center “Ukraine – Ukrinform” (8/16 Khmelnytskoho St., Kyiv) will host a discussion panel “CRIMEA” as part of the media marathon “10 years of Russian Aggression in Ukraine. The Path to Justice”.
February 20, 2014, marked the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While blood was being shed and dozens of protesters were being killed on the Euromaidan in Kyiv, Russian authorities launched an operation to occupy Crimea. Despite numerous and massive protests on the peninsula, where local residents attempted to resist Russia’s creeping aggression; including a large demonstration near the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea on February 26, 2014, the peninsula was occupied. From Crimea, Russian occupational forces began a practice of mass persecution, kidnappings, intimidation, torture, and killings; which it would later replicate on an even larger scale in Donbas and other regions during the full-scale invasion.
How did Crimea transform into a peninsula of fear? What are the main crimes and human rights violations recorded by human rights activists and state authorities during the 10 years of occupation of Crimea? In what ways did the occupational authorities persecute Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars on the peninsula? What was the process of indoctrination and militarization of children and the change of their identity through so-called “patriotic education”? How many Crimean crimes have been investigated and transferred to court? How many verdicts have we received in Crimean cases?
This will be discussed by the participants of the discussion panel “CRIMEA. 10 Years of Russian Aggression in Ukraine. The Path to Justice”. The event will be available to watch online in Ukrainian and English languages.
Speakers:
- Olga Skrypnyk, Head of the Board of the Crimean Human Rights Group;
- Vitalii Sekretar, First Deputy Head of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol;
- Oleksii Tilnenko, Head of the Board of CrimeaSOS;
- Mariia Sulialina, head of the Center for Civil Education “Almenda”;
- Mykyta Petrovets, lawyer of the Regional Center for Human Rights.
Moderator: Valentyna Samar, editor-in-chief of the Center of Journalistic Investigations.
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Organizer of the media marathon: “Ukraine. 5 AM” Coalition.
The event will be held within the framework of the project “United on the path to justice: documenting serious international crimes during the Russian armed aggression in Ukraine” implemented by the Regional Center for Human Rights with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION: “Ukraine. 5 AM” Coalition was launched on February 25, 2022, the day after Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Today, the Coalition brings together 38 non-governmental organizations and four individual experts. They have joined forces to systematically document war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Russian armed aggression against Ukraine. The Coalition is also involved in protecting the victims of the Russian-Ukrainian war in existing national and international justice mechanisms. All of this is aimed at achieving justice by holding the top leadership of the Russian Federation accountable for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.