Amendments to the Russian criminal code will soon impose penalties of up to five years for talking about any changes to the territory of Russia. The amendment, which will take effect May 9, will make it illegal to openly speak about Crimea returning to Ukraine. It will also, for that matter, make it illegal to speak of Crimea becoming independent or have any other discussion on the status of Crimea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has already signed the order bringing Crimea into Russia, so the law will affect Crimean citizens automatically. As long as the law lasts, no Crimean may ever do exactly what Russia supported them in doing when pro-Russian Crimeans voted to leave the nation they were unhappy with to join with another.
Read more at
http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/crimea-citizens-to-receive-possible-5-year-jail-terms-for-anyone-who-talks-of-belonging-to-ukraine-or-independence/#YuVrrsBSz0D0Gp2s.99
More missing
The three activists were not the only ones who disappeared without a trace or were seen being kidnapped after the annexation. At least 15 people have gone missing since March, according to a recent report released by the Human Rights Watch, the New York-based international rights monitoring group.
Their disappearances were part of a broader crackdown on pro-Ukrainian, anti-Russian activists and Crimean Tatars, a Muslim minority mostly opposed to the annexation.
However, the final number of those still missing is likely to be higher, HRW says. Soviet-era dissident and a most revered Tatar community leader Mustafa Dzhemilev says the missing number 17. Ukrainian authorities insist the number is 21.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/12/disappearing-crimea-anti-russia-activists-201412110405525656.html
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