THE AFTERMATHS OF THE OCCUPATION: A POLITICAL REPRESSIONS SYSTEM PART 3 damental rights to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of peaceful assembly etc.; c) representatives of the Crimean Tatar people; d) people involved in public activities beyond the control of the authorities and/or having a point of view that diT ers from the pro-government one. The following examples will illustrate various forms of persecution of the civil so- ciety representatives. The cases described above, are presented in greater detail in other chapters of this book. 3.3. Prosecution of the Real or Alleged Supporters of the State Sovereignty of Ukraine “Why did I plant a < ag on the roof? It was my personal protest. The same as I refused to obtain a Russian passport. I live in Ukraine. Period. Why do I need in this case the passport of a foreign country? [...] They wrung my hands behind my back and pushed me into the car. I asked “Does the < ag on my house bother you?” “And why on earth did you hand it out it if you 15 understand everything?” the policeman replied” – commented the de- tained Vladimir Balukh The support for Ukraine’s national sovereignty and public expression of one’s views entail a signiR cant risk to personal freedom, health, and even life. For instance, dur- ing the discussed period, the following incidents were recorded: • Abduction of the organizers of peaceful demonstrations for the unity of Ukraine, members of pro-Ukrainian NGOs (the case of the abduction of Leonid Korzh, Timur Shaymardanov and Seyran Zinedinov, members of the ‘Ukrainian Home’ initiative group); • Tortures of community leaders (the cases of the leader of the Crimean Euromaidan movement Andrey Shchekun, Euromaidan participant Alexander Kostenko, Enver Krosh, who refused to cooperate with the FSS); • Murders (the case of Reshat Ametov, the participant of a one-man protest detained by the so-called ‘Crimean self-defense); • Launching of fabricated criminal cases (the case of Ukrainian theater director Oleg Sentsov accused of organizing a terrorist organization and case accomplices – ‘Crimean terrorists’ Alexander Kolchenko, Gennady Afanasyev, Alexey Chirniy, the case of Yuri Ilchenko for criticizing the occupation of Crimea in the social network); 15 http://fakty.ua/211831-ukrainskogo-patriota-sudyat-v-krymu-za-nepovinovenie-rabotnikam-pravoohranitelnyh- organov 43