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http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-crimea-crackdown-journalists/26901125.html
Crimea – Russia Cracks Down on Independent Journalists in Annexed Crimea – Women in Media
Crimean
journalist Natalya Kokorina
By Ivan Putilov - March 14,
2015
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.
"Natasha is the author of many investigations about
problems in Crimean society, corruption, thieves in power and the Russian
occupation," wrote the founder of the Center for Investigative Reporting,
Dmytro Gnap, on his Facebook page. "She and her colleagues have
had to practically work underground on their articles."
The same day, FSB agents raided the home of the parents
of journalist Anna Andriyevskaya. Andriyevskaya said she has not lived in the
apartment for about 10 years and she has not been in Crimea in the last 10
months.
She wrote on her Facebook page that the FSB showed her
father documents indicating that criminal charges have been filed against her
in connection with stories she had that purportedly include calls to end
Russia's control over Crimea.
She said her father's computer and flash drives were
confiscated during the search.
Anna
Andriyevskaya
Until shortly after Russia annexed Crimea, Andriyevskaya
worked for the newspaper Argumenty Nedeli-Krym, but she left after the paper
adopted a policy forbidding criticism of the de facto authorities or Russia.
She has since worked as a contributor to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
A spokesman for Russian law enforcement agencies in
Crimea said they had no comment on the raids. Local Interior Ministry spokesman
Dmitry Polonsky said he had not heard of the detention of any journalists.
Kokorina's lawyer, Dzhemil Temishev, told RFE/RL that she
was questioned in connection with reports published by the Center for
Investigative Reporting.
"I cannot tell all the details now," he said.
"So far we do not have any concrete charges in connection with the
interrogation. I do not at present see any danger for Natalya."
Dunja Mijatovic, the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe's media freedom representative, issued a statement on
March 13 condemning "the intimidation of independent journalists in
Crimea."
"This detention is a reminder of the ongoing
practice of the de facto authorities in Crimea to intimidate and persecute
independent media representatives for their work," Mijatovic wrote. She
added that the "repression" of journalists in Crimea is "a
fundamental violation of basic human rights."
Refat Chubarov, head of the Crimean assembly, the Tatar
Mejlis, who is currently in Kyiv because the de facto authorities in Crimea
have banned him from the peninsula, told RFE/RL that "repression" is
increasing in Crimea.
"Fear is being maintained through the repression of
all layers of Crimean society -- against Crimean Tatars, against journalists,
against businesspeople," Chubarov said. "Those of us here in Kyiv
have to think about what we can do to help these people, to protect them and
their families and the journalists who are still in Crimea. We have only one
tool -- maximum publicity and appeals to international journalism and human
rights organizations.
Earlier this month, the NGO Freedom House issued a report that accused the de facto authorities of
"working to turn the Crimean peninsula into an information ghetto."
The report notes that "challenging Crimea's status as part of
Russia" in the media is a crime carrying a penalty of up to five years in
prison.
All Ukrainian television broadcasts to the region have
been shut down, although some channels -- "mostly entertainment channels"
-- can still be viewed on cable.