Photo by Crimea Solidarity

Russian occupation authorities in Crimea last year opened 81 criminal cases targeting local residents evading conscription to the Russian army.

That's according to an analyst with the Crimean Human Rights Group (CHRG), Oleksandr Siedov, an UNIAN correspondent reports.

According to the CHRG, at least 28,044 Crimean residents have been called up for "service" in the Russian army since the beginning of the occupation, Siedov told a Kyiv press conference on Wednesday.

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Siedov noted last year, occupation authorities opened the largest number of criminal cases under the article on evasion of service, namely 81.

At the same time, 35 such cases were opened in 2019, 38 in 2018, nine in 2017, and none in 2016 and 2015.

The human rights activist reiterated that both the conscription into the occupying power's army and persecution of such draft dodgers is a crime from the international humanitarian law perspective.