EU condemns human rights violations in annexed Crimea
At the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna, the EU delegation made a statement condemning the human rights situation in the annexed Crimea.
"We remain deeply concerned about the deterioration of the human rights situation in the illegally annexed Crimea. We support the statement of the OSCE representative on freedom of the media Harlem Désir of April 17, which condemns the deterioration of the situation with freedom of speech and security of journalists on the peninsula," the statement reads.
The delegation of the EU condemned "the repression of critical voices in the Crimea, including the situation of the public journalists Osman Arifmemetov, Rustem Seytkhalilov, and Remzi Bekirov who were arrested on terrorism-related charges, as well as about 20 other residents of the Crimea", UKRINFORM reports.
Also, the EU delegation noted the need to ensure free, safe and unhindered access of the OSCE SMM throughout Ukraine, including illegally annexed Crimea and the Russian-Ukrainian border.