MEPs condemn human rights abuses perpetrated against Crimean Tatars

February 7, 2016.

    In its resolution voted today, the European Parliament condemns the unprecedented levels of human rights abuses perpetrated against Crimean Tatars.
    MEPs condemn the unprecedented levels of human rights abuses perpetrated against Crimean residents, most notably the Tatars, an indigenous people of Crimea, and the severe restrictions on the freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
    They point out that the Russian Federation, as an occupying power, has a responsibility to ensure the safety of the whole population and should, together with the de facto local authorities, investigate effectively, impartially and transparently all cases of disappearances, torture and human rights abuses by the police and paramilitary forces active in the Crimean peninsula since February 2014.
    The resolution reiterates Parliament’s severe condemnation of Russia’s illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula.