~Russia illegally detains 25,000 Kremlin prisoners

According to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, this is the number of civilians abducted by the Russian Federation.

The ZMINA Human Rights Centre has found that at least 67 prisoners require urgent medical care and may die unless they receive it.

During the full-scale invasion, the National Police began investigating the enforced disappearance of 8,800 people.

Russian Children's Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova claims Russia has illegally abducted over 700,000 children from Ukraine.

The Media Initiative for Human Rights has identified about one hundred places where abducted civilians are held.

The Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Qırım) confirms 218 illegally imprisoned Ukrainian citizens, 132 of whom are Qırımtatarlar.

During the full-scale war, 3,767 Ukrainian citizens, including 167 civilians, were returned to Ukraine.

A court in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don has sentenced Eldar Abduraiimov, a 26-year-old resident of the Crimean village of Kalynivka, to 16 years in a strict regime colony on trumped-up charges of "facilitating terrorist activities".

The Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea reports.

The occupying administration of Crimea claims that Eldar distributed a video call to join the guerrilla movement ATESH and sent it to his friends, whom, according to the occupiers, he allegedly persuaded to carry out "terrorist attacks" on the peninsula.

The ATESH guerrilla movement emerged in September 2022 in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and occupation of Crimea. "Atesh" means "flame" in the Crimean Tatar language.

Human rights centre ZMINA reports.

Crimean Yevhen Melnychuk was born in Sevastopol (Aqyar). He took an active part in Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity, defended Ukrainian views and participated in protests. During the events in Crimea in 2014, he returned to his hometown as a volunteer and helped the Ukrainian military. 

After two kidnappings, Yevhen Melnychuk moved to Irpin, Kyiv region, where he fought against illegal logging.

In October 2022, he travelled to the temporarily occupied Crimea, where he was arrested for alleged "espionage". The Supreme 'Court' of occupied Crimea accused Yevhen Melnychuk of providing information on the deployment and movement of Russian military and equipment on the peninsula. It sentenced him to 17 years' imprisonment.

The Human Rights Center ZMINA reports referring to Appaz's mother Aishe Kurtamet.

Appaz Kurtamet is 22 years old.  He was a teacher of the Crimean Tatar language at the Crimean Tatar Cultural Center in Odesa. In July 2022, during the occupation of the Kherson region, the Russians illegally detained and abducted Appaz in the village of Novooleksiivka, where his family's house is located. 

In April 2023, the occupation "court" in Simferopol (Aqmescit) sentenced the young man to seven years in prison for "financing terrorism". According to the occupiers, Kurtamet was allegedly involved in financing a Ukrainian volunteer battalion. He was sent to the "Vladimir Central" colony, where he remained until November 2024.

Appaz Kurtamet's father Khalil was sentenced to eight years imprisonment by the occupation's "Henichesk court" in October 2024 for alleged participation in a "terrorist organization".

Crimean Solidarity reports referring to Servet's sister Svetlana Abliamitova.

Servet Haziiev was detained in 2019. In 2021 he suffered a microstroke in the Rostov pre-trial detention center. The right side of his face was paralyzed.  At the time, doctors said that he was "healthy and did not need help". As the lawyer Emil Kurbedinov noted, his spine was also damaged in the hospital, which further damaged the health of the political prisoner.

In 2023, the Southern District Military Court sentenced Servet Haziiev to 13 years in prison for "terrorism" in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case. 

Haziiev’s lawyer reports that the political prisoner will soon be transferred from prison to a penal colony.

Crimean Solidarity reports.

It is not known which medical institution he is in now. Previously, the Crimean Tatar was in a penal colony, where he was transferred in July 2024. 

Rustem's wife Zera reports that he complained of heart failure and had problems with blood pressure.

Rustem Seitmemetov was detained in Bakhchisarai (Bağçasaray) on March 11, 2020. In 2021, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the political prisoner to 13 years in a maximum security colony for "terrorism" in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case.

His wife Khalida told Crimean Solidarity about it.

Remzi Bekirov's wife, three children and father were able to meet with the political prisoner in a penal colony in the Republic of Khakassia (southern Siberia). The penal colony is five thousand kilometers from the family's home in Crimea (Qırım). It took the family almost three days to get there.

His wife Khalida said that the staff of the colony tried to "suppress" her husband both psychologically and physically. "Food made of pork, which he can’t eat as a Muslim, half portions and a ban on approaching the bed during the day — all this is affecting Remzi's health," she says.

Remzi Bekirov is a grassroots journalist who has closely followed the searches and trials of Crimeans in politically motivated cases. He initiated the idea of collective support for the families of Crimean political prisoners.

On March 10, 2022, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Remzi Bekirov to 19 years in prison in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case.