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May 18, 2025 – Crimea/Russia –
Lutfiye Zudiyeva, a Crimean Tatar journalist and human rights defender, continues to face sustained harassment and intimidation from Russian authorities in occupied Crimea due to her reporting and activism. Zudiyeva is a key member of the Crimean Solidarity movement and a contributor to the Ukrainian outlet Graty. Her work focuses on documenting politically motivated prosecutions and systemic abuses, especially those targeting the Crimean Tatar population following Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula.
On February 22, 2024, Zudiyeva’s home in Dzhankoy was raided by officers from Russia’s Center for Combating Extremism. The early morning search was conducted in the absence of her lawyers. Authorities confiscated personal electronic devices, including phones and laptops, and detained her for interrogation. Zudiyeva was charged under Russia’s restrictive media laws for reposting content from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty without labeling it as content from a “foreign agent”—a requirement under Russian legislation aimed at silencing independent and international media.
She was initially fined by a court in Simferopol for this supposed offense. However, after appealing the decision, Zudiyeva won a legal victory. On July 18, 2024, the Fourth Court of Cassation in Krasnodar overturned the fine, citing that only Russia’s media regulatory agency, Roskomnadzor, holds the legal right to bring such cases. While the reversal was welcomed, it did not alleviate the broader context of repression under which Zudiyeva and other independent voices continue to operate in Crimea.
Her case is emblematic of Russia’s broader campaign against journalists and human rights defenders on the peninsula, where any dissent is treated with suspicion and often punished with administrative or criminal penalties. Zudiyeva’s reporting on court hearings and trials involving detained Crimean Tatars, many accused under questionable terrorism charges, has made her a target of surveillance and repeated legal threats.
International human rights groups have condemned the actions against her and demanded an end to the ongoing crackdown on press freedom and civil society in Crimea. Despite the risks, Zudiyeva remains committed to her work in defense of truth and justice.
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