"Peak of attacks against journalists took place in March 2014, after taking over the buildings of the Crimean Parliament and the Council of Ministers as well as during the referendum. 85 cases of attack on journalists were registered that time. Since April, lack of access to public information was widespread. In May, almost all media, not controlled by the new government, disappeared – the bulk of journalists left Crimea. Most of the media, which stayed, changed their rhetoric to softer and more reflected," Ms. Kurmanova emphasized.

 

She said CIJ found itself in a difficult situation: a takeover on 1 March, termination of the lease on the premises, pressure on journalists, restrictions on access to governmental bodies.

 

"The only organization who gave us the room was the Black Sea Broadcasting Company (BSBC). However, on 2 August the representatives of the Federal Bailiff Service seized the property of the company. The equipment of our organization was seized along with BSBC's property. On 22 December, seized equipment was returned, but the computer hard-drives were destroyed, audio/video cards and data mediums were missing. The expensive memory cards were removed from the camcorders. In December, BSBC lost its license," a journalist noted.

 

Tetiana Rikhtun, director of NGO "IRS of Sevastopol," described the situation with the freedom of speech in this city. "State television of Sevastopol, which supported annexation from the beginning, has been restricted. Moreover, journalists were freed in accordance with Ukrainian legislation. It was also promised to make all applicable payments and then take everyone back to work. But reshaped Sevastopol's television hired only loyal ones," Tetiana Rikhtun said.

 

According to her, two channels have remained in the city: one belongs to the head of the Legislative Assembly, the second to the Government of Sevastopol. "The third channel, which broadcasts two hours a day, is divided among the government and the Legislative Assembly," the journalist stressed.

 

Also, she noted that the "Breeze" Broadcasting Company of Naval Forces of Ukraine disappeared from the airwaves in Sevastopol. Initially, journalists were transferred to the television studio of Black Sea Fleet, but then they were unceremoniously fired.

 

"Under Russian rule over Crimea, several independent online media platforms were shut down. The rest of the online media were eliminated through the Order of the Legislative Assembly, adopted in December, which forbade MPs to give any comments to the online media," Tetiana Rikhtun underlines.

 

According to human rights groups, all existing radio channels are forced out information space in Crimea.

"On 25 February 2015, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media intends to hold a competition for frequency allocation. To participate in the contest one must submit a certificate of registration of mass media (radio) and universal license to broadcast.

 

Equal participation of Crimean broadcasters in the competition is impossible - not all of them are registered as the media. Moreover, none of the Crimean broadcasters has a universal license." This was reported in a recent review of the Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights (CFM).

 

Olha Skrypnyk, Deputy Chairperson of CFM, said that local authorities use both physical pressure and different ways of prosecution for abridging the freedom of speech in Crimea.

 

"Physical pressure - primarily to prevent journalistic activities - is systematically performed through the Crimean self-defense. Its representatives have repeatedly carried out attacks on journalists, destroyed professional equipment, illegally detained journalists, and threatened them with physical violence. In addition, a serious threat to the media is full impunity for crimes committed against journalists," Olha Skrypnyk noted.

According to her, local authorities use Russian legislation for prosecution and intimidation - on extremism and separatism, registration of media - that creates formal obstacles.

 

"The legality of a search at the ATR Channel causes a lot of doubt, despite the investigation team's statement. This could be an example of a situation, when a reason was made up to block the channel and intimidate journalists. CFM has been documenting repeated violations of freedom of speech for almost a year, and after recent events we can talk not just about restrictions, but an attempt to destroy freedom of speech and independent media in Crimea," a human rights activist emphasized.

 

Iryna Sedova, editor of the regional network "Hromadske Radio," described other facts of pressure on Crimean journalists.

 

"Journalists of our radio, operating in different cities of Crimea, reported constant pressure from the Federal Security Service (FSB), namely surveillance, wiretapping, invitations to "preventive" conversations. They even tried to recruit some journalists for cooperation. In addition, the editors of Crimean internet media reported about constant demands of FSB to censor comments in articles and release IP addresses of commentators. Plus, violent threats against journalists are continuously received through social networks," she said.

 

According to Ms. Sedova, the only way to resist the pressure is to continue working on the peninsula.

 

"Now, the task of civil society in Ukraine is to keep at least those parts of an independent journalism that has remained in Crimea. In last six months, we have created programmes on human rights in Crimea with the support of UNDP. Since July, we have documented almost 150 instances of abuse on the interactive map of human rights violations. Despite the growing pressure from Crimean authorities, we will continue to do this work," a journalist underlined.

According to her, informing Ukraine and the world community about events in Crimea is one of the most important tasks now.

 

"The louder we will talk about all cases of human rights violations in Crimea, the harder it will be for the local government to strengthen its position and oppress the rights and freedoms of Crimeans, including freedom of speech," Iryna Sedova stressed.