On Human Rights Day, the Presidium of the Mejis of the Crimean Tatar People appealed to all international organizations, governments and parliaments of states with an appeal to take tough measures of economic, political and diplomatic pressure on the Russian Federation in order to immediately liberate the occupied territories of Ukraine - Crimea and separate areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

This is said in a statement of the Presidium of the Mejlis in connection with the 73rd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the text of which was published by Chairman of the Mejlis Refat Chubarov on his Facebook page on Friday.

"The Presidium of the Mejis of the Crimean Tatar People calls on the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, leaders of political parties, public and religious organizations, all citizens of Ukraine to unite in order to liberate the territories of Ukraine seized by the Russian Federation, which is the only way to ensure human rights throughout Ukraine in accordance with principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," the document reads.

The statement notes that during the mass arrests and detentions of Crimean Tatars in September-December this year, more than 100 people were captured, including mothers of many children, minors, as well as lawyers.

The number of persons persecuted on politically motivated charges in the occupied Crimea is currently 234 people, of which 121 people are illegally deprived of their liberty.

In turn, the Facebook page of Kyiv-based Prosecutor's Office for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol says that over the past few months, the eighth case of groundless mass arrests of Crimean Tatars has been recorded, during which from 19 to 41 people were detained at the same time. In addition, constant pressure is exerted on lawyers representing the interests of illegally detained persons.

"The Russian Federation continues to disregard human rights, persecuting persons expressing a pro-Ukrainian position, professing a different religion, and not supporting the occupation. In 2021, the number of illegal detentions of citizens on far-fetched grounds more than doubled on the peninsula, from 68 in 2020 to 147 arrests. There are numerous illegal violations of the inviolability of housing during searches of Ukrainian citizens in Crimea. For example, this year the occupation law enforcement officers unreasonably broke into 46 houses," head of the Prosecutor's Office on Crimea Ihor Ponochovny said.

According to him, all this is a manifestation of the policy of the occupying state aimed at persecuting and intimidating Ukrainian citizens in Crimea. "Its ultimate goal is to change the demographic composition of the population of the peninsula, that is, to oust those who disagree with the occupation regime from the peninsula and settle Russian citizens in their place," Ponochovny stressed.

The prosecutor's office assured that every fact of violation of human rights in the occupied peninsula is recorded by them in the relevant criminal proceedings in order to implement the principle of inevitability of punishment of perpetrators using both national and international mechanisms.