~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 21 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 217 illegally imprisoned Ukrainian citizens, 132 of whom are Qırımtatarlar.

During the full-scale war, 3,672 Ukrainian citizens, including 167 civilians, were returned to Ukraine.

The Krasnodar Territorial Court of the Russian Federation has sentenced Serhii Denysenko to 25 years in a maximum security colony and prison. He was charged with the murder of the former commander of the submarine Krasnodar, illegal possession of weapons and ammunition, and high treason. The man was also fined 500,000 Russian rubles (about $5,150) and ordered to pay 5 million Russian rubles (about $51,430) to the victim's father. The court's press service reported this.

A native of the Sumy region, the head of the Ukrainian Federation of Shotokan Karate-Do, 64-year-old Denysenko, was detained by the FSB in July 2023 in Tuapse. He was accused of the murder of Captain Stanislav Rzhytskyi, who retired in 2021 and worked as the head of the mobilization department at the Krasnodar City Hall. Denysenko allegedly tracked down Rzhytskyi in a park on the orders of the Ukrainian special services and shot him 8 times in the body. 

In July 2022, journalists from Nashi Hroshi.Lviv published an investigation suggesting that Captain Rzhytskyi may have been involved in a rocket attack on Vinnytsia with Kalibr missiles that killed at least 27 civilians. 

In Russia, the Southern District Court of Rostov-on-Don has closed the case against 18 prisoners of war from the Aidar movement. This was done at the request of the prosecutor, Sergei Aydinov. He believes that the trial has received a great public response, and this creates a danger for the participants and their close relatives. Zmina reports. 

As an argument, Aydinov quoted Dmytro Gordon: ʺWe know a lot about all these and other Russian judges who convict Azovstal's defenders and other captured citizens of Ukraineʺ. 

The prosecutor considers this a direct threat of reprisals against the participants of the "court," so he requested that all hearings be moved to a closed regime. 

Lawyer Maria Eismont requested that the trial remain open. She was supported by her colleague Magomed Bekov. Despite the arguments of the human rights defenders, the court closed the hearing.

During the trial, Ukrainians reported torture by investigators in the occupied Donetsk region. In October, one of the defendants, Volodymyr Makarenko, was transferred to Taganrog Detention Center #2. According to relatives and defense lawyers, the detainees are systematically tortured, and lawyers are unable to access their clients.

The Dzhankoi (Canköy) District Court in occupied Crimea (Qırım) has sentenced 62-year-old Viacheslav Piskunov to 14 years in prison. He was accused of attempting to murder a Russian soldier who had previously served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and defected to the enemy after the annexation of Crimea (Qırım). The Russian General Prosecutor's Office reports.

The occupiers also charged Piskunov with illegal manufacture of explosives and possession of weapons. The man was sentenced to 14 years in a strict regime colony and fined 600,000 Russian rubles (about $6,171).

According to Russian investigators, in September 2023, an SSU officer contacted Piskunov via the Signal Messenger and allegedly forced him to kill a Russian military officer who had defected to the enemy. 

Kateryna Yesypenko spoke at the Ministerial Conference on the Human Dimension of the Peace Formula in Montreal, Canada. She is the wife of Vladyslav Yesypenko, a freelancer for Krym.Realii and a Ukrainian journalist who was illegally sentenced to five years in prison by a Russian court. This was reported by the media outlet Krym.Realii.

Kateryna called on the participating countries "to do everything possible to make Vladyslav's case a priority and to bring him home. During her speech, she told the delegations about the torture used against him in Russian custody and his deteriorating health. She insisted that her husband's imprisonment was politically motivated and unfounded. 

"My husband is only guilty of informing the world about what is happening in occupied Crimea (Qırım). He knew it was dangerous, but his loyalty to his country and the truth was stronger than his fear. His case deserves the highest attention of world leaders. I ask those present today to do everything in their power to make Vladyslav's case a priority and to bring him home," Kateryna said in her speech.

Reporters Without Borders has called for medical monitoring of imprisoned civilian journalist and activist Osman Arifmemetov, who has lost 22 kilograms in prison in the Krasnoyarsk region of Russia. He was sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security prison in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case. 

"RSF (Reporters sans frontieres) condemns the conditions of his detention and calls for his medical care and release," the statement said.

The Kremlin detainee's mother, Emdiye Arifmemetova, said her son was being held in harsh conditions and was not allowed to make phone calls. The reasons for Osman's transfer to such conditions are unknown. Osman Arifmemetov is a Crimean Tatar and a Muslim. All prisoners in the prison are given pork, which Osman does not eat because of his religious beliefs. This, in addition to malnutrition, is likely the cause of his severe weight loss.

The illegal "Ministry of Health" in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Qırım) informed the wife of seriously ill civilian journalist Amet Suleymanov, a prisoner in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case, that he is not in the queue for heart valve replacement surgery, but is on a waiting list. This was reported by Zmina. 

After sending the request, the political prisoner's wife received a phone call from an employee of the "ministry" who said that the ministry had received her letter.

"And in between words, he said that Amet was on the waiting list," the political prisoner's wife added.

On October 21, Lyumanova received a reply saying that Amet Suleymanov "should appear in person with the relevant documents for examination and further decision on his surgery."

"That is, the text made it clear that he had been removed from the waiting list," the woman said.

In May 2024, Amet Suleymanov had a hypertensive crisis. Due to high blood pressure, he has constant nosebleeds and often feels dizzy and short of breath. Chronic heart problems have affected his blood vessels. It took a month for the Crimean Tatar to get the medicine his wife sent him.

Now, he receives medication for heart pain and blood pressure but no medication to support his liver or blood thinners. Because of his sedentary lifestyle, he is prone to blood clots. The doctors gave him blood thinners but stopped them after a short time. The doctors do not say why he is no longer on the medication.

In July 2024, the Vladimirskiy Regional Court refused to release a Crimean Tatar from detention even though he had two illnesses incompatible with detention in correctional facilities.

Crimean Tatar, father of six children Bilyal Adilov, sentenced to 14 years in prison, was transferred to the penal colony No. 1 in Kyzyl, Republic of Tyva. The defendant in the "Alushta case" Hizb ut-Tahrir, Crimean Tatar activist Eldar Kantimirov, sentenced to 12 years in prison, was transferred from the prison No. 1 in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region to the penal colony No. 8 in the Republic of Buryatia. This was reported by Crimean Solidarity.

Adilov's family did not know his whereabouts for a long time. Kantimirov's release from prison took one month. He is currently in quarantine.

"The stage was difficult. [He was put in] dirty cells in the pre-trial detention center that are never cleaned because people stay for a few days, a week at most, and then leave," the prisoner's wife added.

Both prisoners were transferred long distances from their homes, making it difficult for their families to visit them. The prisons are located 6-7 thousand kilometers from the annexed Crimea (Qırım).