A Moscow court has upheld the “foreign agent” status for the Crimean journalist and human rights activist Lutfiye Zudieva

The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow refused to remove Lutfiye Zudieva, a journalist for Graty and a well-known human rights activist from Crimea, from the “foreign agents” registry, and to declare this status illegal. The decision was handed down by Judge Irina Kozlova on August 11, but the parties were only informed of it recently. The journalist has filed an appeal and is awaiting its consideration. 

Graty considers the assignment of “foreign agent” status to Lutfiye Zudieva to be a means of pressure on an independent journalist, laying the groundwork for her further persecution by the Russian authorities. It is also an attempt to indirectly influence the activities of international journalistic and human rights organizations so that they would restrain from contacting people who remain under the Russian occupation.

For her articles and interviews

On May 16, 2025, the Russian Ministry of Justice designated Lutfiye Zudieva as a “foreign agent,” calling her journalistic and human rights activities “political.” According to the wording used by the Zamoskvoretsky Court in its decision (the document is available to Graty), Zudieva “disseminates messages and materials intended for an unlimited circle of persons and participates in their creation, as well as engages in political activities in the form of disseminating opinions about decisions made by public authorities and the policies they pursue.” 

In fact, this refers to her posts on social media, as well as her articles for Graty, described in the decision as “an independent Ukrainian internet media outlet that covers the most important socio-political events and trends.” Among other things, the court decision mentions seven articles by Lutfiye Zudieva: on cases involving Crimean Muslims, who were tried for alleged involvement in the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir (recognized as terrorist in Russia, but operating freely in Ukraine and most European countries), the torture and illegal transfer of convicts outside the peninsula, a meeting of political prisoners, released after serving their sentences, the searches of Crimeans’ homes and their abduction from home, and the forced psychiatric treatment of individuals by court order instead of imprisonment. There is also a mention of the death of a Crimean resident Bronislav Danylovych, while his daughter, human rights activist and citizen journalist Iryna Danylovych, is serving a prison sentence in the Stavropol region of Russia (circa 800 km from home in Crimea). 

A separate mention is made of interviews the human rights activist gave to foreign media and international journalism organizations, in particular Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), about the situation with persecution and politically motivated criminal cases in Crimea. 

Lutfiye Zudieva. Photo from her personal archive

The Ministry of Justice relied on “information” received from Roskomnadzor and the Crimean departments of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB for 2024 and 2025. The ministry’s more than 100-page report, submitted to the Zamoskvoretsky Court, contains screenshots of articles and posts on social media and selected quotes from them, as well as open-source statistics from the publication’s social media accounts. However, the ministry’s conclusions do not contain any information about Lutfiye Zudieva receiving funding from any of these sources. Instead, the Russian Ministry of Justice purports for the money transferred to Zudiyeva by her husband for their household needs to be the alleged “foreign funding” she received. He, in turn, as the journalist noted in her explanations to the court, earned this money as an entrepreneur selling agricultural products in Crimea. 

“These transfers are intended solely to cover current family expenses, including utility bills for our household and my husband’s parents’ household,” the applicant explained to the court.  

The court ruling also refers to Lutfiye Zudieva as a “member of the Irish organization Front Line Defenders” (which is actually an international fund for the protection of human rights defenders) due to the publication of information about the persecution of the human rights defender by the Russian occupation authorities on the fund’s website. 

Front Line Defenders do indeed publish statements supporting people around the world whose activities, according to the foundation’s methodology, are human rights-related and who are pressured by authorities or third parties because of these activities. However, these people do not become “members” of Front Line Defenders and are not in any way under its influence. The foundation defines human rights activities as “individual or collective peaceful activities on behalf of others to promote and protect internationally recognized human rights”. It considers journalists, lawyers, and public figures working on human rights issues as included among human rights defenders. According to Front Line Defenders’ criteria, Lutfiye Zudieva is engaged in peaceful and lawful human rights defense activities in Crimea. 

By citing the peaceful and lawful activities of international organizations as a reason for persecuting people in Crimea, the Russian authorities are indirectly trying to pressure them to stop reporting on human rights violations and politically motivated persecution in the peninsula. 

Journalist appeals the decision 

Lutfiye Zudieva is currently appealing the decision of the Zamoskvoretsky Court in the court of appeals. The hearing has not yet begun. In her statement, the journalist refutes having acted in the interests of any state and objects to her journalistic activities being recognized as “political,” noting that this is a matter of the fundamental right to freedom of thought and expression, which is guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 19) and, in particular, by the Russian Constitution (Article 29). 

At the same time, the Russian authorities are already trying to use the status of “foreign agent” to increase pressure on Lutfiye Zudieva, and to complicate her work. 

On August 27, the Crimean office of the Russian Ministry of Justice drew up an administrative offence report against the journalist, alleging that she had not applied to the Russian authorities herself to be included in the “foreign agents” registry. The hearing is set for September 15. The respective article provides for a fine of 30,000 to 50,000 rubles ($370-620). 

The voice of those persecuted in Crimea

Lutfiye Zudieva lives in Crimea and reports on repression and human rights violations on the peninsula. She covers politically motivated cases against Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians, the conditions of detention of political prisoners, the illegal transfer of convicts outside the peninsula, and torture in Russian colonies. Zudieva received the Ukrainian journalism award “Honor of the Profession” for her podcast about political prisoner and human rights activist Iryna Danylovych. 

She herself has also been persecuted on numerous occasions.

In the summer of 2023, Lutfiye Zudieva was detained when she came to the Supreme Court of Crimea to cover the trial of Mejlis Deputy Chairman Nariman Dzhelial and the brothers Aziz and Asan Akhtemov, accused of sabotage. The Kyiv District Court of Simferopol had fined her, charging of alleged participation in an unauthorized mass event, even though she was doing her job as a journalist.

At the end of February 2024, Zudieva was detained by police after a search of her home in Dzhankoy. Two administrative reports had been filed against the journalist for posts on her personal Facebook page, where she mentioned Radio Liberty without indicating their “foreign agent” label. In April of that year, the Kyiv District Court of Simferopol fined the journalist 2,500 rubles (about $25) for the “abuse of the freedom of mass information.” The journalist appealed the decision and won the case in cassation.

Russian police officers near the Kiev District Court of Simferopol (illustrative photo). Author: Crimean Solidarity

Later, the Simferopol Magistrate’s Court fined Zudieva 2,000 rubles (about $20) for a post on her personal Facebook page about the court hearing in the case of the “Belogorsk group” of Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic party, without mentioning that it is banned in Russia.

In May 2024, law enforcement officials issued a warning to Zudiyeva against committing illegal acts in the near future.

Ukrainian and international human rights organizations spoke out in defence of Lutfiye Zudieva and demanded an end to her persecution. UN special rapporteurs recommended that the Russian government take measures to stop violations against Crimean human rights defenders and lawyers, including Zudieva. Russia did not respond to their statements.

Since 2019, the status of “foreign agent” in the Russian Federation has been approved for individuals, who cooperate with media outlets, previously recognised as “foreign agents” or receiving funding from abroad. Since 2022, the status was extended to those “under foreign influence”. “Foreign agents” are prohibited from holding positions in government bodies, running for elections, conducting educational activities among minors, and working in state education institutions. “Foreign agents” are also deprived of the opportunity to receive financial state support and are prohibited from using the simplified taxation system.