Ukrainian and Crimean Tatars, who openly support the territorial integrity of Ukraine and do not support the current authorities of the Crimea, are in theespecially vulnerable situation.

This is stated in the report of OSCE assessing the situation of human rights in Crimea, which was published on September 17, 2015, reports the Institute of Religious Freedom.

The requirements regarding re-registration of the NGOs, media outlets and religious groups set by the Russian Federation were deliberately used against persons disloyal to the new government. In the end, the freedom of association and the possibility for the existence of civil society was largely limited and the number of independent media was significantly reduced.

The OSCE report also states that religious community with the status of legal entities have to re-register in compliance with Russian law to be eligible to carry on with their activities –to rent premises, to hire staff or invite foreigners to participate in religious events.

Religious communities are facing serious difficulties in the course of the bureaucratic procedure of application for re-registration. Thus, only citizens of Russia are allowed to register a religious organization registered as a legal entity in Crimea. For this reason, the Russian government extended the term of re-registration first until March 1, 2015, and subsequently until January 1, 2016.

At the time of annexation, in Crimea there was over 1,400 religious communities officially registered as legal entities in accordance with the Ukrainian law and 674 other communities (most of which were part of the Muftiyat) operated without state registration. But by the end of the first period of re-registration, 150 applications were rejected due to technical issues, including all 20 applications of Jehovah Witnesses, and applications of the Catholic Church due to the fact that some documents were filed in Ukrainian.

The OSCE report notes that in some cases the procedure of re-registration in the Crimea was used to oust the pro-Ukrainian public organizations and media outlets. It significantly reduced the scale and diversity of civil society space, simultaneously suppressing dissent manifestations.

After the first extended period of the submission of applications, only 60 religious organizations, including nine religious communities, managed to re-register in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. Thereafter less than 200 religious communities fled their applications and only 51 of them (excluding nine religious communities) were re-registered as of March 2015. In August, there were 53 religious organizations registered in the Republic of Crimea and in Sevastopol. (Except for those communities which have been registered under the simplified procedure as being subject to legal persons registered in Moscow).

The pressure exerted on religious organizations of the Crimean Tatars was marked by distinct periods of intensification and relief. From June to September 2014, the so-called law enforcement agencies of Crimea carried out searches in mosques and madrassas (Islamic schools) throughout the peninsula and questioned dozens of Crimean Tatars suspected of possession of prohibited extremistmaterials or involvement in the religious organizations such as Hizbut–Tahrirprohibited by the legislation. Many of these searches were conducted in mosques and madrassas belonging to the Religious Administration of Muslims of Crimea (RAMC).

It is most likely, the OSCE notes, that de facto the Russian government has changed its attitude towards the RAMC, given the more moderate position of RAMC leader mufti Emirali Ablayev, member of Majlis. Currently he refrains from direct criticism of the current Crimean authorities and takes part in official meetings organized by the occupation authorities.