Key quotes from the Report:

• «The attitude of the de facto Crimean authorities, and their Russian masters, to their opponents is simple: leave or shut up. Many vocal critics have indeed left, spurred also by a spate of abductions in the first few months after the annexation. Several pro-Ukrainian associations and human rights groups have likewise relocated or ceased to operate altogether».
• «Freedom of expression has been severely restricted in Crimea since the occupation and annexation of the peninsula by Russia in February and March 2014. This has followed, in part, from the application of generally restrictive Russian laws and practices, but has clearly been aggravated by the desire of the de facto authorities in Crimea to silence pro-Ukrainian and other dissenting voices».
• «As a result, one year after the annexation, there is notably less pluralism in the local media, both offline and online where openly dissenting – particularly pro-Ukrainian – political views are no longer tolerated».
• «The right to freedom of peaceful assembly has been severely curtailed since the peninsula’s annexation by the Russia. Public gatherings and street protests in Crimea have visibly decreased since March 2014, as the de factoauthorities have employed restrictive Russian legislation and administrative technicalities to curb any public protest or other assemblies that could be seen as opposing the new regime».
• «Public gatherings opposing the annexation of Crimea virtually ceased after 18 March 2014, when the “treaty” sealing Crimea’s annexation by Russia was signed in Moscow. Since then, most openly pro-Ukrainian activists – among them all publicly known EuroMaydan activists – have left the peninsula, fearing for their personal safety and the risk of criminal prosecution».
• «Crimean Tatars have borne the brunt of these newly imposed restrictions. They have been forced to move their traditional commemorative events from central squares to remote neighbourhoods, and in some cases have been denied the opportunity to assemble altogether. But they are not the only group to have endured violations of their right to peaceful assembly».
• «The Crimean Tatar community has been particularly affected by the new restrictions on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in Crimea, which the de facto authorities have used to curtail traditional public gatherings»
• «As with the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, the right to freedom of association in Crimea has been severely squeezed since the peninsula’s annexation by Russia. A number of prominent NGOs have ceased to exist, particularly those involved in human rights work or EuroMaydan-related activism».
• «Parishes belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate have been under pressure to switch their allegiance to the Moscow Patriarchate».
• «Following the annexation by Russia, many prominent human right groups from Crimea have chosen to cease to exist or relocate elsewhere in Ukraine. Some have done so in protest against the annexation, while others have felt compelled to do so on account of the personal threats and physical violence faced by their members».

Read the full text here