Following the occupation, politically motivated persecution of people not loyal to the Russian authorities and those they considered potentially disloyal began, in particular, on religious grounds. Disloyal persons are being prosecuted for participation in extremist and terrorist organizations, public calls for terrorist activities, public justification of terrorism or propaganda of terrorism, propaganda or public display of attributes or symbols of extremist organizations or other characteristics and signs, the propaganda or public display of which is prohibited by law. The peculiarity of such persecutions is that the organizations in which the Crimean Muslims are mostly accused of participating and of
distributing their symbols are not prohibited in Ukraine and do not entail criminal liability. About 98% of those persecuted by the occupation authorities are Crimean Tatars, which indicates the targeted nature of the persecution on ethnic grounds.

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