Crimean Tatar journalist and human rights defender faces new prosecution for reporting Russian repression

Russia is not letting up on its harassment and persecution of renowned journalist and human rights activist Lutfiye Zudiyeva. A mere three months after Russia’s justice ministry declared her a so-called ‘foreign agent’, the same body has initiated a first administrative prosecution over alleged infringement of Russia’s profoundly flawed ‘foreign agent’ legislation.

The journalist informed Crimean Solidarity on 25 August that she has received a summons on 27 August to the Crimean occupation office of Russia’s justice ministry.  This is for administrative charges to be drawn up under Article 19.34 § 1 of Russia’s code of administrative offences (‘infringement on regulations for the activities of a foreign agent’.  Part 1 of this carries a fine of 30 to 50 thousand roubles.  She explained that she will go and read the material and formal grounds for the prosecution. “I’m not convinced that my presence will particularly influence the final ruling, but it’s important for me – to remain open, and explain my position and act within the framework of the law”.

Zudiyeva is not alone in linking the Russian ruling declaring her a ‘foreign agent’ on 16 May 2025 with her journalist work – her reports on political trials in Crimea for the Ukrainian publication Graty and her interviews to international media and human rights organizations (CNN; Newsweek; the Committee to Protect Journalists and others).  Russia’s justice ministry also claimed that she is a member of Front Line Defenders,

Since Zudiyeva has lodged a legal challenge against the decision labelling her a ‘foreign agent’, any such prosecution for infringing the rules is manifestly premature. Russia has, however, long used any pretext, however lawless, for persecuting a human rights defender who has tirelessly reported on its mounting repression in occupied Crimea.   Zudiyeva was also one of the coordinators of the vital Crimean Solidarity human rights initiative, which arose both to help the ever-mounting number of Crimean Tatar and other Ukrainian political prisoners and their families, and to ensure that information was passed on about such repression.  Russia has been trying to crush the movement since soon after it began in 2016, with a large number of its coordinators, civic journalists and activists imprisoned, either serving or facing monstrously long sentences. Although the FSB have stopped short of fabricating similar cases against women members of Crimean Solidarity, both Lutfiye Zudiyeva and Mumine Saliyeva, another prominent human rights defender (and wife of political prisoner Seiran Saliyev) were both detained with Zudiyeva fined by an occupation ‘court’ over three Facebook posts which she had nothing to do with, but which somebody else had tagged her on when posting five years earlier.  The occupation regime has continued such administrative persecution of Lutfiye Zudiyeva ever since.  This is part of a very sinister pattern, with many of the male Crimean Solidarity civic journalists and activists now imprisoned on grotesque ‘terrorism’ charges having first faced administrative prosecutions.  Lutfiye Zudiyeva has refused to be cowered into silence, with this is, doubtless, why Russia has now used its ‘foreign agent’ arsenal against her.

The ministry claimed on 16 May 2025 that Zudiyeva had “circulated false information about decisions taken by the public authorities of the Russian Federation and the policies they carry out; taken part in circulating notifications and material of a foreign agent to an unlimited number of people. She received support from foreign sources and is acting in cooperation with foreign organizations.”

In response, Lutfiye wrote: “From tomorrow I will have to accompany each post with a discriminatory note about the foreign agent [label].  However, if one must choose between that and silence – silence about lawlessness; searches; fabricated prosecutions, I choose to not be silent.”

Russia’s original ‘foreign agent’ bill dates back to 2012 and was condemned even then as yet another weapon aimed at crushing civil society. It initially targeted only NGOs but was later broadened to so-called ‘media foreign agents’, with this used, for example, against Crimean Realities, the Radio Liberty project which filled a vital gap after Russia eliminated all free media in occupied Crimea. In December 2019, Russian leader Vladimir Putin signed into force a law making it possible to label virtually any journalist, blogger or civic activist a ‘foreign agent’.  They could, for example, be so designated for having circulated Crimean Realities material, for having taken part in preparing it, or for receiving money or assets from abroad, or from Russian legal entities receiving foreign funding. 

The ‘foreign agent’ label also places extremely onerous demands on the person who must provide regular accounts of all their financial matters.  There are a number of other restrictions, including a ban on educational activities with people under 18 or on work in state (in Crimea, Russia occupation) educational organizations.

As mentioned, Russia’s persecution of Zudiyeva began back in 2019, with it presumably, and foolishly, hoped that she would fall silent. 

On 27 July 2023, Zudiyeva and another journalist were illegally detained, together with 12 other Crimean Tatars for trying to attend a purportedly open court hearing into the appeal against the appalling sentences passed on Crimean Tatar Mejlis leader, journalist and human rights defender Nariman Dzhelyal and two cousins, Asan and Aziz Akhtemov.  She was fined on a preposterous charge of having taken part in an unauthorized mass event, with the occupation ‘judge’, like the Russian-controlled ‘police’, ignoring the fact that she had been there as a journalist.

On 22 February 2024, armed Russian enforcement officers burst into Zudiyeva’s home in Dzhankoi, carried out a search for which they did not have a proper warrant, and took Lutfiye to the Simferopol department of the ‘centre for countering extremism’ where two administrative charges were laid.  These were over three posts on Facebook.  In two of them, the journalist had mentioned or posted material mentioning Radio Liberty without indicating that this has been forcibly registered as a so-called ‘foreign agent’ in Russia and on occupied territory. In the third text,  The earliest of the posts dated back to 10 January 2021It and reported on various measures throughout local Crimean Tatar communities in support of three political prisoners – Enver Omerov (then 59), his son Riza Omerov and Aider Dzhapparov.  The second, posted on 16 February 2022, reported the internationally condemned sentence against Vladyslav Yesypenko, a Ukrainian freelance journalist who was seized, tortured and then ‘sentenced’ to 6 years on surreal charges while carrying out work in occupied Crimea for Crimean Realities.   The third was from 6 August 2022 and was about Russia’s offensive against three Crimean Tatar lawyers, all involved in defending Crimean Tatar political prisoners - Lilia Hemedzhy; her husband Rustem Kyamilev and Nazim Sheikhmambetov.  

The charges and ‘convictions’ were surreal, with Lutfiye fined, for example, over something called ‘abuse of freedom of mass information’ under Article 13.15 § 2.1 of Russia’s administrative code.  The so-called abuse was purportedly because a post on her Facebook page had not mentioned that Russia calls Radio Liberty a ‘foreign agent’.

Russia’s methods of repression and persecution have become increasingly savage and lawless. Publicity is vital.