RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


 

Ukrainians in Crimea suffer discrimination

UPTsKP ARCHBISHOP IN CRIMEA URGES WORLD LEADERS AND COMMUNITY TO PROTECT RIGHTS AND FREEDOM OF UKRAINIANS OF THE PENINSULA

RISU, 8 June 2015

 

Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea Kliment (UPTsKP), on behalf of the religious community and of the Ukrainian community in Crimea, publicly appealed to the international community to urgently do everything possible to help Ukrainians in Crimea and to protect their national and religious rights and prevent forcible eviction of Ukrainians from their native land and their assimilation.

 

The bishop's appeal was sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, President Poroshenko, Putin, US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameroon, and the representation of the European Union in Ukraine.

 

Bishop Kliment enumerated incidents of seizures of the UPTsKP church in honor of the Holy Martyr Kliment in the city of Sevastopol and the church in honor of Andrew the First-Called in the village of Perevalnoe, and the arson of the country home of the ruling bishop in the village of Mramornoe of Simferopol district, the closing of UPTsKP parishes in the cities of Saki, Krasnoperekopsk, and Kerch, and the raiders' seizure of premises of the UPTsKP in Simferopol.

 

The bishop considers to be impermissible:

--persecution of Crimeans for their religious affiliation;

--seizure of premises of the Crimean diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev patriarchate;

--persecution of activists of the movement Evromaidan-Crimea, who defended their position in a peaceful manner, organizing peaceful demonstrations in support of the European choice of Ukrainians;

--persecution of Ukrainians of Crimea, who remain citizens of Ukraine and are bearers of the Ukrainian culture and language;

--closing of classes taught in the Ukrainian language and destruction of the Ukrainian preparatory school in Simferopol and seven other Ukrainian-speaking schools located on the territory of the peninsula;

--destruction of Ukrainian language publications and the newspaper Krymskaia Svetlitsa, whose premises local authorities confiscated;

--reduction in the Crimean informational space of the number of television and radio programs in the Ukrainian language;

--renaming of Ukrainian institutions: houses, theaters, libraries, and schools;

--prohibition of the conduct of peaceful demonstration and meetings at monuments for Ukrainians, particular around the monument to Taras Shevchenko in the city of Simferopol on the anniversary of his birth;

--arrest of Ukrainians in cities and villages of Crimea who dress in national clothing.

 

Vladyka Kliment urged the United Nations Organization, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and states of the European Union to take decisive measures for protecting basic principles of human rights and liberties in Crimea.

 

"I consider it urgent and appropriate today to resolve the question on the international level about the immediate introduction of an international mission for monitoring human rights and discrimination against ethnic communities on the Crimean peninsula. I ask you to consider at the level of international negotiations questions of the guarantee of the rights and liberties of Crimean Ukrainians and questions of the functioning of the Crimean diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev patriarchate on the peninsula of Crimea," the appeal says. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 June 2015)


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