The guerrilla movement ATESH records large-scale repressions against religious communities in Crimea temporarily occupied by russians. This is stated in the movement's message on Telegram.
"Agents of our movement and local residents have recently been increasingly reporting on the catastrophic situation with the rights of believers on the occupied peninsula. The russian occupiers have practically completed the complete clearing of the spiritual field and are systematically destroying all denominations, except for the ROC controlled by the special services," it says.
According to ATESH, today the activities of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Crimea have actually been suspended. The occupiers have moved from pressure to physical destruction of shrines: in Yevpatoria, they completely demolished the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. In Simferopol, they demonstratively dismantled the dome from the Cathedral of Saints Volodymyr and Olha and finally sealed the building. Due to constant threats of forced mobilization, the last Ukrainian priest was forced to leave Crimea - and this put an end to the official existence of the diocese on the peninsula.
In ATESH they say that terror against the communities of Jehovah's Witnesses in Sevastopol and other cities continues in parallel.
"We record facts of illegal searches and threats of deprivation of parental rights, as well as cases of forced psychiatric "treatment" of believers. People are driven to paranoia and fabricated cases of terrorism for their pacifist views, while completely blocking any connections with the world," the partisans add.
According to ATESH, Crimean Tatar Muslim communities are also subjected to similar pressure, refusing to cooperate with the structures appointed by Moscow.
"Until 2014, all these communities lived in safety within Ukraine and did not know such problems. Today, faith has become a pretext for imprisonment and state terror. The ATESH movement is fighting for the right to freedom of conscience, which will return to Crimea only together with the Ukrainian flag. We call on representatives of all repressed confessions to record the crimes of the occupiers and send us data on judges and investigators, as well as on informants involved in the demolition of churches and the persecution of your communities," the partisans summarize.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the authorities of the aggressor country, the russian federation, have finally deprived the gauleiter of the temporarily occupied Crimea of the right to register real estate, transferring these powers to the federal structure, Roscadastre.
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