1 year into Russia's occupation of Crimea, Tatar activists being "disappeared", free media harassed
Russia's takeover of the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine a year ago was hailed by many ethnic-Russian locals, but for the indigenous Crimean Tatar minority, the new rulers have brought little but fear.
'Fear and Despair' For Tatar Activists in Russian Crimea
SIMFEROPOL, Crimea — A Crimean man whose son and nephew were abducted five months ago said he never expected this to happen, but he now fears the Russian-backed authorities.
"It looks like they want to create an atmosphere of fear and despair," Abdureshit Dzhepparov told NBC News in his empty house in Belogorsk, 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) from the Crimean capital of Simferopol.
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His 18-year-old son, Islyam Dzhepparov, and 23-year-old nephew, Dzhevdet Islyamov, were both seen forced into a car and driven away in late September. They have not been seen since.
Dzhepparov said the investigation by local authorities in this case, and in others, felt like continued harassment as relatives were "endlessly interrogated." "We felt like suspects, not victims," he said.
Tatar activists told NBC News that they have borne the brunt of the Russian annexation and they are reminded of Soviet times, when Crimea's indigenous people were expelled and repressed.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/europe/russian-crimea-peace-gay-hotels-not-activists-n323581
Stop The Presses: Moscow Cracks Down On Journalists In Annexed Crimea
KYIV -- One year after Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, the pro-Russian de facto authorities continue to crack down on independent journalists there.
This week, agents of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in the Crimean capital of Simferopol raided the homes of two reporters from the Center for Investigative Reporting, an independent journalism group that was forced to relocate to Kyiv after Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014.
In a statement issued on March 13, the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nongovernmental organization based in New York, described the raids as "repressive actions" and said journalists covering Crimea "have been harassed, attacked, detained, and had their equipment seized" over the last year.
Journalist Natalya Kokorina said the FSB searched the home of her parents, where Kokorina was registered, on March 13. At 8 a.m., Kokorina received a phone call telling her to come to the apartment immediately.
"In the morning, a man called saying he was from the...police," Kokorina told RFE/RL. "He said the doors of the apartment where I am registered and where my parents live had been sealed. My parents' telephones had been turned off."
She was subsequently detained and questioned for more than six hours before being released.
http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-crimea-crackdown-journalists/26901125.html
ATR, the only Crimean Tatar-language TV channel faces shutdown on April 1, because Russian authorities have refused multiple times to extend its broadcasting license.
http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/nbc-news/russian-authorities-refuse-to-extent-tv-stations-license-413246019698
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