~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, 3,981 Ukrainian citizens, including 171 civilians, were returned to Ukraine.
Three Azov POWs sentenced in temporarily occupied Donetsk
Zmina Human Rights Center reports.
The so-called "Supreme Court" in temporarily occupied Donetsk has sentenced three soldiers of the Azov Brigade, Yevhen Lavrenko, Dmytro Klusenko and Denys Fedirko, to 24.5 years in a "maximum security" penal colony. The soldiers were captured by Russia. The Geneva Convention prohibits the trial of prisoners of war for mere participation in an armed conflict in defense of their own or another state.
Russian occupation investigators accused them of attempted murder and cruel treatment of civilians. The military allegedly shelled settlements in the Donetsk region, causing damage to civilian infrastructure and civilians.
Rostov court to consider the case of civil activist Volodymyr Ananiev
The Crimean Human Rights Group writes.
Ananiev was detained in the temporarily occupied Crimea (Qırım) for allegedly preparing a car bombing ordered by the Security Service of Ukraine in February 2024. He is charged with alleged illegal possession of explosives and planning a terrorist attack. His case has been transferred to the Southern District Military Court in Rostov.
Volodymyr Ananiev was a civil activist in Crimea, engaged in legal and media activities, and actively participated in land reform, protecting the rights of landowners.
Two Ukrainian Jehovah's Witnesses Sentenced to Six Years in Prison in Temporarily Occupied Crimea (Qırım)
The Crimean Human Rights Group informs.
Viktor Kudinov and Serhii Zhyhalov were sentenced to six years in prison for allegedly organizing and conducting worship services. In 2017, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized the Jehovah's Witnesses as an extremist organization and banned their activities in Russia. In the same year, the Russian Ministry of Justice added the Crimean branches of Jehovah's Witnesses to the list of extremist organizations.
The persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses is a violation of Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (freedom of thought, conscience and religion). It is also persecution of persons who are not criminals under Ukrainian law, since Russia cannot apply its own criminal law in the temporarily occupied territories, including Crimea.
The Occupation Court Refuses to Recognize the Transfer of Edem Smailov to the Punishment Isolator as Inappropriate
Crimean Solidarity reports.
Edem Smailov is serving his sentence in Kostroma in the case of Hizb ut-Tahrir. In 2020, the Southern District Military Court of Rostov-on-Don sentenced him to 13 years in prison for participation in the activities of a terrorist organization.
The prisoner is constantly placed in a punishment cell for various reasons of "violation of the established procedure for serving his sentence". He could spend a month in the detention center. Smaiilov's lawyers appealed against the colony's decision to place him in the isolation ward, calling the reasons "far-fetched". The Occupation Bakhchysarai (Bağçasaray) District Court of Crimea (Qırım) refused to recognize the transfer to the isolation ward as "unjustified".
For four months now, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation sabotages the transfer of Arsen Abkhaiirov to a colony closer to his home.
Crimean Solidarity reports.
Arsen Abkhaiirov was sentenced to 13 years in prison for alleged participation in a terrorist organization in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case. The sentence was handed down by the Southern District Military Court of the Russian Federation in 2020. As of 2024, the prisoner is in a colony in the Republic of Buryatia, seven thousand kilometers from Crimea (Qırım).
Abkhaiirov's wife, Azize, and the lawyers have repeatedly requested that her husband be transferred to a colony closer to home. In September 2024, the occupied Krasnogvardeisky District Court of Crimea ruled to transfer Arsen to a colony closer to home in the Rostov, Arkhangelsk regions or in the temporarily occupied Crimea. As of January 2025, the Federal Penitentiary Service sabotages this decision.
Ruslan Mesutov is transferred to a colony in Yakutia to be placed in a punishment cell
Crimean Solidarity reports.
In 2021, Ruslan Mesutov was accused of participating in a terrorist organization in the case of Hizb ut-Tahrir. The verdict was passed by the Southern District Military Court of the Russian Federation. The man was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Mesutov was one of the founders of the Muslim religious community in Alushta and worked as a security guard at the mosque. He was also involved in social activities, organizing Muslim holidays, helping with funerals and leading prayers. He is 59 years old and has blood pressure issues and poor eyesight. Upon arrival at the colony in Yakutia, the man's Koran, glasses, and personal belongings were taken from him and he was placed in a punishment cell.
