Journalist Lutfiye Zudiyeva recounts her daily battle to cover Crimea after over 10 years of Russian occupation
Tartar journalist Lutfiye Zudiyeva is one of the last independent voices documenting the effects of the Russian occupation of Crimea, a Ukrainian territory invaded in 2014. At least 12 Crimean journalists are currently imprisoned by Russia, sometimes thousands of kilometers from their homes. Lutfiye Zudiyeva spoke to RSF about her daily fight to defend press freedom despite intense pressure in a video made in partnership with the French magazine Kometa.
“Lutfiye Zudiyeva is one of the last independent journalists still active in occupied Crimea, defying Russian repression to share free information. Since the occupation of the peninsula in 2014, Moscow has been stifling the local press and imposing its propaganda, but she refuses to remain silent and continues to document the realities of the occupation. RSF salutes her courage and calls for the release of all Crimean journalists still arbitrarily detained by the Kremlin.
“There were too many events in Crimea that could not be silenced and had to be told. ” says Lutfiye Zudiyeva in a video recorded for RSF in partnership with the French magazine Kometa, explaining here were "Constant arrests and searches, raids on mosques, and other forms of harassment.” Journalists have been hunted down since Russia invaded the peninsula in 2014 yet some, like Lutfiye Zudiyeva, refuse to be silenced. She is of the last free voices reporting on the situation on the ground, posting journalistic content on her own social media accounts before covering human rights violations in Crimea for Crimean Solidarity — the media outlet of the eponymous human rights organisation — and the Ukrainian news site Graty, which specialises in legal affairs.
"Being a local journalist, reporting on the ground and belonging to a persecuted people is a strength and a weakness", asserts Lutfiye Zudiyeva. While her proximity to the war gives her access to crucial sources that are hard to come by, it also makes her a target of Russian repression. She’s been detained three times and in February 2024 her home was raided, her professional equipment confiscated, and she was held for several hours in the Center for Combating Extremism, a unit controlled by the Russian Interior Ministry. Yet, she refuses to let this intimidation affect her work. For Lutfiye Zudiyeva, writing helps protect those stuck in captivity: "Shedding light on what is happening often protects people from being tortured in basements. A few texts or messages on Facebook can influence the decision to electrocute someone or not." She believes her reports will contribute to "the release of political prisoners" and "the end of repression in Crimea."
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 amplified the repression Crimean journalists have been facing since 2014. At least 12 Crimean journalists remain imprisoned, often thousands of kilometers from their homes, subjected to abusive, humiliating conditions.
Ukraine and Russia rank 61st and 162nd, respectively, out of the 180 countries and territories surveyed in the 2024 RSF World Press Freedom Index.
