~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, 3,767 Ukrainian citizens, including 167 civilians, were returned to Ukraine.

The Military Court of Appeal in the village of Vlasikha, Moscow region, has upheld the convictions of 54-year-old Volodymyr Kryvtsun, 48-year-old Vitalii Rastorhuiev and 53-year-old Konstantin Yevmenenko under 'terrorist' articles, Zmina reports.

In April this year, the Southern District Military Court sentenced Volodymyr Kryvtsun to 11 years and Vitalii Rastorhuiev to 12 years in a strict regime colony for allegedly preparing an act of international terrorism. The men were being held in Simferopol (Aqmescit) Detention Centre No. 2. They were accused of organising an assassination attempt on Oleksandr Saulenko, the self-proclaimed mayor of Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia region.

According to the Russian investigation, in July 2022 Rastorhuiev and Kryvtsun allegedly planted an improvised explosive device under the official car of a representative of the occupation authorities, but the device did not work. The Russians allegedly arrested Vitalii in Berdiansk in the summer of 2022. He reportedly agreed to cooperate with the Opir (Resistance) civil movement, an organisation that prepared people for a series of subversive activities in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region. It was founded by Ukrainian Security Service officer Yevhen Astakhov. 

Yalta resident Kostiantyn Yevmenenko, 53, was charged with allegedly preparing a terrorist attack by a group of people, participation in a terrorist group, illegal possession of explosives and high treason. In June this year, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced him to ten years in a maximum security prison, of which the first two and a half years are to be served in prison, and fined him RUB 500,000.

According to Russian investigators, Yevmenenko allegedly carried out the tasks of one of the members of the Ukrainian agent group, Viktor Podvalnyi, who worked for the Main Intelligence Directorate. He and his accomplices allegedly prepared terrorist acts in Crimea (Qırım), in particular against representatives of the occupation administration, Sergei Aksyonov and Yanina Pavlenko.

The Military Court of Appeal in the village of Vlasikha, Moscow Region, upheld the sentences handed down to Anton Zhukovskyi, Dmytro Serheiev and Yanina Akulova by the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don in April, Zmina writes.

The illegally detained Ukrainians were charged with allegedly preparing a terrorist attack, participation in a terrorist group and illegal possession of explosives and weapons. The men were sentenced to 15 years in a strict regime colony, and the woman received nine years. All three were also fined RUB 800,000. 

According to Russian investigators, in July 2022 Zhukovskyi and Serheiev allegedly joined a terrorist group created by the Ukrainian special services in Melitopol. They were allegedly supervised by an intelligence officer with the call sign 'Bratuha'. Akulova joined them in September of the same year. They allegedly planned to detonate an improvised explosive device in one of the markets of the occupied city but were detained by the Federal Security Service. 

During the court hearing, all three stated that they were not terrorists, but citizens and patriots who loved their country. Zhukovskyi's elderly parents, including his mother with a disability, have been left without support. Serheiev has a seriously ill mother. He and Akulova also have minor children who are financially dependent on them.

During questioning at the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don, Leman Zekeriaiev spoke about the violations committed by the security forces during the search of his house on January 24, 2023, his lawyer, Lilia Hemedzhi informed Crimean Solidarity.

He told the court that none of the members of the household were informed of their rights and obligations during the search, which took place simultaneously in several rooms, meaning that the residents were unable to follow the search. 

As a result, the security forces planted literature that had not been in the house library before. 

According to the lawyer, Zekeriaiev's defence filed a motion to have the search reports declared inadmissible evidence. But this and other requests were rejected. 

He and five other Crimean Tatars are accused of involvement in the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is banned in Russia but operates legally in most countries, including Ukraine.

Ruslan Nahaiev, a 60-year-old businessman sentenced to 13 years in prison, has been taken to hospital by the Russians, Crimean Solidarity reports. This happened after the political prisoner was transferred from Chelyabinsk prison to penal colony No. 21 in the Arkhangelsk region.

Nahaiev is not informed about his health condition, and other people concerned about his situation are promised to be informed only in person at a meeting with the head of the medical unit. The political prisoner rarely makes contact and provides very little information. However, it is known that he is receiving some treatment, but his health is not improving.

At the end of August, Ruslan Nahaiev's relatives informed Crimean Solidarity, citing a private doctor in Chelyabinsk, that the man had an inflammation and needed urgent surgery. The Crimean Tatar was twice sent to the prison hospital in the Chelyabinsk region for treatment, but this only helped to alleviate some of his symptoms. The prison administration ignored the need for a close consultation with a specialist.

Prior to his detention, Ruslan Nahaiev was a businessman in Alushta (Aluşta) and performed religious ceremonies. He was detained on June 10, 2019, in Crimea (Qırım) following a search of his home. On August 16, 2021, the Southern District Military Court, represented by Roman Saprunov, issued a verdict against the defendants of the Alushta group of Hizb ut-Tahrir, including Ruslan Nahaiev. He was sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment. The Military Court of Appeal in Vlasikha, Moscow region, upheld the verdict.

The so-called Supreme Court of Crimea (Qırım) upheld the November 7 verdict of the Kyiv district court. The 'court' decided to impose a 10-day detention on human rights defender Rustem Kiamiliev under the article on demonstrating extremist symbols, Crimean Solidarity writes, citing his lawyer, Edem Semedliaiev.

On November 7, employees of the Centre for Combating Extremism came to the house of lawyers Lilia Hemedzhi and Rustem Kiamiliev to conduct an investigation. At the end of the search, police officers took Rustem Kiamiliev to the building of the Centre for Combating Extremism. Two publications on his Facebook page, dated June 9, 2020 and October 21, 2017, led to two administrative protocols. 

The first report against Rustem Kiamiliev was drawn up based on a repost from the Crimean Solidarity page. It covered the trial of Ukrainian activist Oleh Prykhodko. In the photo, Prykhodko is holding a sheet with a flag and a trident drawn on it. According to staff at the Centre for Countering Extremism, the symbols in the picture allegedly belong to the Ukrainian organisation 'Right Sector'.

The second report against Kiamiliev was drawn up because of 'disagreement with the actions of the Russian armed forces'. According to the Centre for Countering Extremism, Rustem Kiamiliev reposted a text and video about events in Syria and Ukraine from a user with the nickname 'Hryhorii Yavlinskyi'. The post read: 'This is an ethical disaster for Russia that will not be forgotten for decades, perhaps centuries'. The post also referred to the killing of Muslims and the testing of military equipment, which is 'an absolute evil'.

Crimean political prisoner Dzhemil Hafarov died in February 2023 at the age of 61 in Novocherkask Detention Centre 3. The Russian Supreme Court overturned Dzhemil Hafarov's sentence and closed the criminal case in connection with his death for lack of rehabilitation, according to Crimean Solidarity. 

The death occurred a few days after Hafarov was transferred from Rostov's Detention Centre No. 5 to Detention Centre No. 3 in Novocherkask. The autopsy showed that the elderly Crimean Tatar died of acute cardiovascular failure caused by atherosclerotic heart disease. He was found in a semi-seated position on the bed, panting, with a weak pulse and blood pressure of 60/30. According to the testimony of the head of the department, Gulyakina, they tried to revive Hafarov, but the efforts were unsuccessful. 

The doctors' report on his death also included two other diagnoses: post-infarction cardiosclerosis and myocardial fragmentation. These were caused by a heart attack Hafarov suffered in November 2022 in the detention centre. Since then, he was unable to get out of bed and suffered chest pains. Lawyer Edem Semedliaiev repeatedly tried to visit Hafarov in the hospital, but on the day of the elderly Crimean Tatar's death, he received a refusal from the department to transfer Hafarov (who had already died) to a paid clinic.

Lawyer Rifat Yakhin demanded that the Federal Penitentiary Service be held responsible for Hafarov's death. However, the agency refused to open a case against the doctors of Medical Unit No. 61 and the head of Detention Centre No. 5, Pavel Lazarenko, finding no evidence of a crime in their actions. Lazarenko, for his part, stated that when Hafarov was transferred 'he made no complaints about his health'.

Crimean Tatar activist Aziz Akhtemov, sentenced to 13 years in prison, was transferred from Detention Centre No. 1 in Krasnoyarsk Territory to Correctional Colony No.10 in Rubtsovsk, Altai Territory on November 6, Crimean Solidarity reports.

Akhtemov has now been in quarantine for two weeks. His transfer from Yeniseisk prison in Krasnoyarsk Territory took two months. After the activist was taken out of the facility, his family was unaware of his whereabouts. The Federal Penitentiary Service refused to provide Akhtemov's wife with any information. They claimed that they 'have the right not to disclose such information to third parties'.

The activist spent a month and a half on his way to the Novosibirsk pre-trial detention centre without food. He was transferred without warning or permission to buy anything in the prison shop. During this time, the political prisoner was also denied the right to take a walk.

Aziz Akhtemov, his relative and fellow activist Asan Akhtemov, and Nariman Dzhelial, Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, were arrested on suspicion of blowing up a gas pipeline in the village of Perevalne in September 2021. Subsequently, on November 8, during investigative actions in Simferopol (Aqmescit), the FSS additionally accused Nariman Dzhelial and the Akhtemov brothers of "illegal transport of explosives by an organised group across the customs border".

On September 21, the Supreme Court of Crimea in Simferopol sentenced Aziz Akhtemov to 13 years in prison, a fine of RUB 500,000 and a one-year restriction on his freedom of movement. The Third Appeal Court of Sochi did not change the verdict of the Southern District Court, despite the defence's efforts to explain the violations committed during the preliminary investigation and in the court of first instance within three days.

According to the Crimean Human Rights Group, the occupation 'Supreme Court' of Crimea (Qırım) has increased the sentence of Ukrainian citizen Denys Yezhov in the case of repeated defamation of the Russian army.

In September, the Alushta City Court sentenced Yezhov to a fine of RUB 100,000. On appeal, the sentence was changed to one year in a general regime colony with a ban on administering websites for another year. According to the prosecution, the case was brought because a drunken Yezhov shouted 'Glory to Ukraine, everything will be Ukraine'.

According to the Crimean Human Rights Group, the FSS detained a 29-year-old resident of Sevastopol (Aqyar) (the security forces do not reveal his name) who was allegedly preparing to set fire to equipment on the railway tracks near the Balaklava TPP. The man was allegedly given this task by the Ukrainian special services.

According to the FSS, in September 2023, the Sevastopol resident 'established contact with the Security Service of Ukraine to maintain confidential cooperation'. In a video released by the FSS, the man says that, in return for a reward, he was to provide the Ukrainian special services with photos and videos of special equipment near a thermal power plant in Sevastopol. He was later offered to set fire to the equipment and promised a thousand dollars for doing so.

Russian security forces claim that the detainee was given $100 to buy 'fuel liquid', which he prepared and bottled. They claim that the man was arrested on his way to the site of the arson.

The Sevastopol resident was charged with secretly collaborating with a foreign state and attempting to commit a terrorist act. The so-called Leninsky District Court of Sevastopol imposed a detention order.