Russia Curtails Crimean Free Speech

Many journalists of Crimea’s independent television station ATR broke into tears on air during their last live show at midnight on March 31.

A year after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula, a censorship and harassment campaign on the part of authorities has become a part of daily life in Crimea. The world’s only TV channel that served Crimean Tatars, a native people, went silent on April 1 because it could not overcome the bureaucracy and other obstacles to continue broadcasting.

Ostensibly, every news outlet had to re-register in Crimea by April 1, the deadline set by Russian regulators. Some 232 media outlets got the license, including the only Crimean Tatar newspaper Yeni Dunya.

Those who did not include FM radio stations Meydan and Lider, children’s television channel Lale, news website 15 Minutes; Crimean Tatar news agency QHA, and newspapers Avdet and Yildiz.

ATR, which had broadcast in Crimean Tatar, Ukrainian and Russian languages since 2006, tried three times to obtain licenses. Each time the regulator rejected the applications citing mistakes and inaccuracies.

Dunja Mijatovic the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe representative on media freedom, voiced concerns that Crimean Tatar media outlets are having their registration rejected for “subjective reasons.”

In an emailed statement, Mijatovic said “this is yet more proof that the politically selective censorship of free and independent voices in Crimea is continuing.

For Lilya Budzhurova, deputy head of information policy at ATR, it was a “political attack” since the occupying authority often blamed the channel for “giving hope for the return of Crimea to Ukraine.” 
Budzhurova said they had little hope of obtaining a license.

“We thought that the Crimean authorities would take into account the needs of Crimean Tatars, but we were too naïve,” Budzhurova said, adding that the channel tried to be objective, a policy that rarely pleased the authorities.