~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, 3,445 Ukrainian citizens were returned to Ukraine.

62-year-old Enver Omerov, sentenced to 18 years in prison, has been transferred to penal colony No. 6 in Yoshkar-Ola, Mari El Republic — 2,000 kilometres from Crimea (Qırım). According to his daughter, Fatma Ismailova, the man needs an operation.

According to Crimean Solidarity, this information was provided by the wife and daughter of the Kremlin prisoner.

The daughter said that her father needs an operation due to a certain illness. He did not manage to have the operation before his arrest. In the Vladimir Central Prison, where he was previously held, Enver hesitated to undergo surgery due to unfavourable reviews about the hospital. Now, he has learned that there is a reportedly decent hospital associated with the colony in Yoshkar-Ola.

Enver Omerov, his son Riza, and Ayder Japparov were detained on June 10, 2019. On January 12, 2020, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don found them guilty of participating in the so-called terrorist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has been banned in Russia since 2003. Enver Omerov was sentenced to 18 years, Japparov to 17 years, and Riza Omerov to 13 years in prison.

However, according to the case documents, the defendants did not possess any weapons, explosives or ammunition, did not plan any terrorist act and did not call on others to commit terrorist acts. There is no evidence in the case to suggest that the convicted attempted to overthrow the constitutional order of the Russian Federation or seize power.

The so-called "court" in occupied Donetsk has sentenced Mariupol defender Oleh Plotnikov to 22 years in a strict regime colony for allegedly abusing civilians and attempted murder.

This was reported by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

Prisoner of war Oleh Plotnikov lived in Novopavlivka, Kherson region. For some time, he was a businessman, but when the war broke out, he volunteered to go to the front. At the time of the full-scale invasion, he served as the commander of a reconnaissance platoon of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The occupation "court" charged Plotnikov under articles of the Russian Criminal Code with cruel treatment of the civilian population (Part 1 of Article 356 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and attempted murder committed by a group of people with political and ideological hatred and enmity (Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to the documents of the so-called "investigation", on March 23-25, 2022, Ukrainian servicemen noticed a car near the combat positions on Metallurhiv Avenue. They allegedly reported this to Plotnikov by radio and warned that white ribbons were tied to the car's side mirrors, indicating civilians.

According to the occupation "court", Plotnikov ordered the car, with three men inside, to be shot. As a result, one of them was injured, while the other two survived and fled.

The Moscow Region Military Court of Appeal has increased the sentence of Dmytro Yevhan, a senior sailor in the 36th Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, from 20 to 23.5 years in a strict regime colony.

This was reported to the Media Initiative for Human Rights by the wife of the imprisoned marine, Valentyna.

Dmytro Yevhan is a marine who defended Mariupol from the Russian army in the spring of 2022. He lost an arm in the fighting and was later captured.

In March 2024, the Southern District Court of Rostov-on-Don sentenced Yevhan to 20 years in a strict regime colony. He was accused of inflicting at least nine stab wounds with a bayonet on a captured officer of the so-called "People's Militia of the DNR" at the Azovmash factory in Mariupol in April 2022.

Zodie Saliyeva, activist, veteran of the Crimean Tatar movement and mother of Kremlin prisoner Seyran Saliyev, has been released from the Federal Security Service (FSB) office in Simferopol(Aqmesit). The FSB had previously detained her but did not admit that they were holding her.

This was reported by the ZMINA Human Rights Centre.

On August 29, at 7:00 am, FSB agents arrived at the house where the woman lives. They said they were going to inspect the flat. However, they could not do so because the apartment number on the search warrant was wrong. The FSB officers took the woman away, saying that they would "talk to her and then release her".

The detainee's daughter-in-law, Seyran's wife, human rights defender Mumine Saliyeva, and lawyer Edem Semedlyaev tried to find out where Zodie was. Still, both the FSB department in Bakhchysarai(Bağçasaray) and the FSB office in Simferopol(Aqmescit), as well as the "Centre for Combating Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Crimea" claimed that they did not have her in custody.

Mumine Saliyeva later wrote that the woman was released from the building at 14:42 Russian time the same day.

This is the second time Zodie Saliyeva has been detained. In February 2022, she attended the Bakhchysarai(Bağçasaray) Occupation District Court as an observer in the case of Crimean Tatar National Kurultai deputy Edem Dudakov. She was detained by the security forces and the occupation "court" fined her under the article on "mass presence in a public place causing disturbance of public order".

The Russian Supreme Court has confirmed the sentence of four participants in the case of the "Alushta group" of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

This was reported to Crimean Solidarity by lawyer Emil Kurbedinov.

The cassation appeal was considered on August 28. One of the political prisoners, Ruslan Nagayev, attended the court session from the hospital. During the session, Eldar Kantimirov, Lenur Khalilov, Ruslan Mesutov, and Ruslan Nagayev stated that they wished to pursue their case in their mother tongue, Crimean Tatar, and requested the appointment of a translator. The court denied their request, stating they "understand Russian sufficiently".

In addition, the defence and their colleagues Edem Semedlyaev and Siyar Panich emphasised that the identities of secret witnesses had been unlawfully concealed and that expert examinations had been conducted in violation of the law.

The court did not accept any of the defence's arguments, upheld the sentence, and rejected the appeals against the Court of Appeal's decision.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is an Islamist political party. It was declared a terrorist organisation in Russia in 2003, and people associated with it have been persecuted. Participants are accused of "anti-constitutional activities"and of trying to create a so-called "world caliphate". After the occupation of Crimea(Qırım) in 2014, the occupiers extended their legislation to the peninsula. Crimean Muslims were accused of involvement with Hizb ut-Tahrir, increasing pressure on Crimean Tatars for their opposition to the occupation of Crimea(Qırım).

The health of Crimean Tatar activist Enver Ametov, who has been unlawfully imprisoned for 13 years, has deteriorated in Yelets Prison No. 2 in Lipetsk Region (Russia). Ametov's hepatitis B has worsened, and he has lost 15 kilos.

This was reported by Crimean Solidarity, citing the prisoner's wife, Halyna Ametova, who met with Enver for the first time in five and a half years.

After the visit, Ametov reported by phone that he had been prescribed silybin — a drug for chronic liver disease. Tests were supposed to be carried out after the course of medication, but they were not.

The prisoner's wife also noted that since his arrest, Enver's stomach pains have increased. He was given injections because tablets did not help. His dental problems have also worsened, and his eyesight has deteriorated.

In November 2022, the Southern District Military Court found Crimean Tatar activists, including Enver Ametov, guilty of terrorist activities and attempting to seize power. Ametov and Yashar Muyedinov were sentenced to 13 years in a strict regime colony.

The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, has sentenced Oleksandr Liubas, a serviceman in the special unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, to 20 years in a strict regime colony. Liubas was captured after a landing operation in the temporarily occupied Crimea(Qırım).

This was reported by the Russian propaganda agency TASS.

The Russian court found Liubas guilty of "terrorism, illegal border crossing and smuggling of weapons and explosives".

In October 2023, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence reported that Ukrainian special forces had landed on the territory of occupied Crimea(Qırım) and attacked Russian troops, withdrawing after completing their mission.

At the time, the representative of the Ukrainian military intelligence, Andrii Yusov, said that the special forces group had withdrawn with some losses. Later, Russian media reported that the FSB had allegedly arrested "saboteurs" in Crimea(Qırım).