~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 209 illegally imprisoned Ukrainian citizens, 126 of whom are Qırımtatarlar.

During the full-scale war, 3,135 Ukrainian citizens were returned to Ukraine, including 150 civilians.

The Moscow City Court considered the investigator's motion to extend the preventive measure against Crimean Tatar Leniie Umerova for alleged ‘espionage’. Her arrest was extended until August 4, 2024.

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

Earlier, at a closed session, the Lefortovo Court of Moscow extended Umerova's detention for another two months — until May 4, 2024. 

It will be recalled that Leniie Umerova is suspected of allegedly being a ‘spy’. The Crimean Tatar woman was detained on the Russian-Georgian border in December 2022. She was trying to get to the temporarily occupied Crimea to visit her father, who was suffering from cancer.

Political prisoner, citizen journalist and participant in the case of the ‘second Simferopol group’ of Hizb ut-Tahrir Rustem Sheikhaliiev was transferred to the Yeniseisk prison in Krasnoyarsk Territory, Russia.

His wife, Suria Sheikhaliieva, reported this to Crimean Solidarity.

On April 26, the woman received an email from her husband, in which he said that he had been in Yeniseisk since April 25. Before that, he had been in a detention centre in Krasnoyarsk for a week.

Earlier, the citizen journalist wrote to his mother that on March 18, 2024, he and other prisoners were taken out of Detention Centre No. 3 in Novocherkassk. For some time, Rustem was held at the same place.

It will be recalled that earlier, the citizen journalist Rustem Sheikhaliiev was not admitted to hospital after he suffered a severe nosebleed during a hearing on January 16. The prisoner was also denied an electrocardiogram. The man suspects that he has heart failure.

In the temporarily occupied Crimea, a district police officer, on behalf of the ‘Centre for Countering Extremism’, handed warnings about the 'inadmissibility of violating the law on rallies' to the defenders of political prisoners Lilia Hemedzhi and Rustem Kiamilev.

Rustem Kamilev told Crimean Solidarity.

The warnings were also handed to the public defender and activist of the Crimean Solidarity Seiit-Osman Karaliiev. The man was accused of allegedly ‘organising a mass action’. He was demanded to ‘take measures’ to eliminate extremist activities and violations of public order. Otherwise, they promised to apply administrative and criminal articles.

A warning was also handed to Crimean Tatar human rights activist and lawyer Nazim Sheikhmambetov. He was warned of the ‘inadmissibility of actions that create conditions for committing crimes and offences’ and the ‘inadmissibility of continuing anti-social behaviour’.

Sheikhmambetov disagreed with the warning and noted that he did not understand why the document was issued. In addition, he stressed that he considered it illegal, as the security forces did not explain to him the reasons and grounds for the warning.

An officer of the so-called ‘Dzhankoy (Canköy) police department’ handed a warning to human rights activist and journalist Lutfiie Zudiieva about the ‘inadmissibility of breaking the law’ during mass actions. 

Lutfiie Zudiieva informed Crimean Solidarity about this. 

Zudiieva was asked to sign a statement that she had been warned about the prohibition to conceal her identity during the rallies, to carry weapons and other dangerous objects, explosives, and alcohol. 

The district police officer did not explain the reason for the warning. The journalist disagreed with the warning and noted that the actions of the so-called ‘Ministry of Internal Affairs of Crimea’ (Qırım) were ‘not reasoned’.

On April 9, the Crimean Court of Appeal upheld the decision to bring independent journalist Lutfiie Zudiieva to administrative responsibility for allegedly ‘abusing freedom of the media’. 

Earlier, the Russians accused Lutfiie Zudiieva of allegedly abusing freedom of the media and fined her 500 rubles, which is equivalent to 208 hryvnias. Earlier, the so-called ‘Centre for Countering Extremism’ drew up a report against her for ‘disseminating information about foreign agents or materials produced by them in the media without indicating the status of a foreign agent’.

The so-called ‘Kyiv District Court of Simferopol’ (Aqmescit) extended the pre-trial restraint against the former imam of the mosque in the village of Lobanovo Remzi Kurtnezyrov and left him under house arrest until August 4. 

His lawyer, Safiie Shabanova, reported this to Crimean Solidarity. 

The court also rejected the defence's request to allow the former imam to leave the house and enter the adjoining territory. In addition, in mid-July, the Crimean Tatar will be placed in a hospital for an inpatient mental health assessment. 

‘He decided that his opinion would not affect the outcome of the process, so he did not object to being placed there. I supported my client's position,’ - Safiie Shabanova adds. 

Kurtnezyrov was detained on March 5 for alleged involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir. 

He has been diagnosed with a third-degree hyperintensity, with consequences of cerebrovascular disease (a pathology related to the brain). He has also endured three strokes and suffers from diabetes.

Remzi Kurtnezyrov is a former imam of a mosque in Lobanove who has recently stopped performing religious rites for health reasons.

The so-called ‘Southern District Court in Rostov-on-Don’ has not changed the preventive measure for the members of the ‘First Dzhankoy Group’ in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case. Activist Enver Krosh, civilian journalist Vilen Temerianov, Rinat Aliiev and Edem Bekirov will remain in custody until August 29. 

Lawyer Emil Kurbedinov provided this information to Crimean Solidarity. 

In his words, the court did not take into account the arguments of the defence and announced a break in the trial until May 30. 

The main ‘evidence’ in this criminal case is an audio recording of a conversation in a mosque from 2015. Emil Kurbedinov is sure that it was extracted from the FSS archives eight years later. 

‘All these years, these people have not been prosecuted and have not posed any danger to society,’ the lawyer says.

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