Russia illegally detains at least 158 Kremlin prisoners

Authors:
Mission of the President of Ukraine in ARC
Russia illegally detains at least 158 Kremlin prisoners

On January 26, Kremlin prisoner Asan Akhtemov wrote a letter describing his treatment by the occupation forces

Russians took illegally detained Ukrainian citizen Asan Akhtemov to the occupation court. They kept him there without food and water for a whole day.

The Crimean Tatar activist Elmaz Kyrymly posted the letter. 

On that day, Asan had a fever, but the Russians did not provide him with medical care. Instead, they brought him to the occupation court to familiarise him with the audio recordings of the court hearings. 

Aziz Akhtemov and Nariman Dzhelial were with him. The illegally abducted asked for paper and pens for notes, but the Russians ignored their request.

During the day, Akhtemov and Dzhelial were not given food or water. Instead of lunch, they were taken to a separate room and held there for an hour. Such "familiarisation" was to last for several days.

As a reminder, the occupation forces illegally detained the Akhtemov brothers and Nariman Dzhelial in September 2021 and have been holding them in pre-trial detention since then. The political prisoners were charged with allegedly sabotaging a gas pipeline in Perevalne, but the real reason was Nariman Dzhelal's participation in the founding summit of the Crimean Platform. Nariman told about this confession of the occupation forces at one of the "meetings". In September 2022, the occupation "court" sentenced Nariman to 17, Asan to 15, and Aziz to 13 years of imprisonment. The occupation court of appeal is currently considering the case.

On January 27, the occupation court held a hearing in the case of the so-called "fourth Bakhchisaray group" Hizb ut-Tahrir

Russians want to imprison a person with disabilities and visual impairments for 18 years on charges of alleged "terrorism" — Crimean Solidarity.

Russian security forces demand that Oleksandr Sizikov be illegally imprisoned for 18 years and detained unlawfully, Alim Sufianov and Seiran Khairedinov face 14 years in prison. 

The case is still being considered.

As a reminder, the three Muslims are being persecuted in the case of the so-called "fourth Bakhchisaray group" Hizb ut-Tahrir. The Russians have been illegally detaining them since July 2020.

On January 27, three occupation courts in the temporarily occupied Crimea illegally arrested 26 Crimean Tatars for 10-16 days.

These activists came to support six illegally detained on January 25 — the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. 

On January 25, the occupation court in Simferopol considered the cases of six Crimean Tatars illegally detained the previous day. 

Other Ukrainian citizens gathered in front of the so-called "court" building to support the abductees. However, Russian security forces illegally detained them as well and then took them to the occupation police stations. 

On January 27, the occupation courts did not punish only seven detainees, and Ruslan Umerov was illegally fined. The rest were sentenced to illegal administrative arrests.

On January 30, Russians transferred illegally detained Bohdan Ziza to Rostov-on-Don 

Russians will put the activist on trial in Rostov-on-Don — the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. 

On May 16, 2022, he poured yellow and blue paint on the building of the occupation administration of Yevpatoria and threw a bottle of the incendiary mixture inside. 

Earlier, Ziza appealed to the President of Ukraine with a request to exchange him.

The state of health of illegally detained Dzhemil Gafarov has deteriorated because the Russians do not provide him with medical care

Emil Kuberdinov, the lawyer of the Kremlin political prisoner, told this to Crimean Solidarity.

Gafarov suffered a heart attack in 2017. In addition, he has kidney failure.

"It is unclear whether I will survive the exile or not. How will I be transferred into exile for months?" the illegally detained man said, not getting out of bed due to his poor health.

To recap, on January 11, the Russian court delivered a "verdict" in the so-called case of the "second Bakhchisaray group” Hizb ut-Tahrir. The Russians sentenced Dzhemil Gafarov, Alim Karimov, Seiran Murtaz, Erfan Osmanov and Servet Gaziyev to 13 years in prison.