A YEAR AFTER: MAIN VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN CRIMEA PART 4 o7 ce reminded that holding a public event without the consent of the administra- tion of Simferopol was illegal. The same day, in one of Simferopol’s cafes, the representatives of the Ministry of the Interior read out a warning about the inadmissibility of violations of any laws to other coordinators of the Committee on the Rights of the Crimean Tatar People. ‘The sudden appearance of prosecutors, the Ministry of the Interior and Federal Security Service agents, in the café, con+ rmed the fact that our phones were tapped and they have been watching us. These are the weak arguments to prevent the holding of the International Human Rights Day.’ Coordinator of the Committee, a member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Eskender Bariev. On December 10, in Simferopol at 11:30 a.m. at 20 Chekhov street, the coordinators of the Committee on the Rights of the Crimean Tatar people held a press conference on the prohibitions to hold events to mark the Human Rights Day. During the press conference, a group of unknown persons (a minimum 10 individuals) committed a provocation by spraying green disinfectant at the speakers. According to the organ- izers of the press conference, they managed to identify one of the instigators. On December 10, Rize Shevkiev, the Director of Crimea Charity Fund, received a warning from the Simferopol prosecutor’s o7 ce about ‘the inadmissibility of viola- tion of the law on combating extremist activity and the legislation on meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches, and pickets’. The prosecutor’s o7 ce said that in the course of this meeting it was planned to use anti-Russian rhetoric, namely, to call the present people for illegal actions to disrupt public order, provoking the actions of an extremist nature. The prosecutors failed to present the facts in support of this opinion. On December 10, the Human Rights Day, the center of Simferopol was surrounded by members of the security forces. The authorities blocked Lenin Square and one of the adjacent streets. In addition to fencing, the cordon of riot police o7 cers, interior troops and men in camouU age uniforms was organized, who identiR ed themselves as ‘people’s militia’. Particularly, large concentration of security forces was observed in front of the building of the Council of Ministers of Crimea. The entry and exit were en- sured through a metal detector. At every intersection in the central streets of the city, the tra7 c police posts were installed, in particular, Sergeyev-Tsensky street leading to Lenin Square was completely blocked by police. The access to the city center from the neighboring streets was blocked. The law enforcement agents urged the represent- atives of the press to leave the area, while the photographers had to delete footages. 119