Occupied Ukrainian territories now rank below North Korea in the Freedom in the World report. In today’s material from the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, we share how Russia dragged occupied territories into scoring negative figures (-1/100) on the freedom scale, as measured by Freedom House. After three years of Russia’s open war of aggression against Ukraine, political rights in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine have a rating of -2/40, while civil rights are only very slightly higher, at 1/60.  In all occupied territories, “the occupation government severely limits political and civil rights, has silenced independent media, and employs antiterrorism and other laws against political dissidents. The rule of law and civil liberties are not respected.” “Any pro-Ukrainian views remain banned from public discourse and can draw heavy punishment when openly expressed.” The report would be worth showing to those political leaders who are insisting that Ukraine should accept Russia’s occupation of its territory.  Doing so means betraying Ukrainian citizens and abandoning them to a frightening level of lawlessness and lack of freedom.  Read further about the findings of the report (particularly in areas such as change to the ethnic composition of the occupied territory, lack of freedom of faith and expropriation of property) on the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group website: khpg.org/en/1608814686 You can access the report itself on the Freedom House website: freedomhouse.org/country/rus… Photo: Detention of one of the elderly Crimean Tatars who were seeking to know where the FSB had taken Nariman Dzhelyal and four other men. Source: Crimean Solidarity