~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, 4,131 Ukrainian citizens, including 171 civilians, were returned to Ukraine.

Members of the first Bakhchysarai group in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case—Remzi Memetov, Rustem Abiltarov, and Zevri Abseitov—have been released from a Russian colony after nine years of illegal imprisonment. The Crimean Tatars had been held in Colony No. 1 in Stavropol, Russia, lawyer Edem Semedlyaiev told the NGO Crimean Solidarity.

On May 12, 2016, four Crimean Tatars were arrested in Bakhchysarai (Bağçasaray) following searches. Chef Remzi Memetov, businessman Enver Mamutov, dentist Zevri Abseitov, and carpenter Rustem Abiltarov were charged with alleged involvement in a terrorist organization.

On December 24, 2018, the Southern District Military Court sentenced Remzi Memetov, Rustem Abiltarov, and Zevri Abseitov to nine years in prison. Enver Mamutov was sentenced to 17 years. On July 11, 2019, Russia's Supreme Court slightly reduced their sentences, cutting each term by three months.

On July 18, 2019, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on Russia to release all Ukrainian political prisoners, including those involved in this criminal case.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is an Islamic political party. In 2003, it was recognised as a terrorist organisation in Russia, and those involved in it were persecuted. The members are accused of ‘unconstitutional activities’ and attempts 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 in Hizb ut-Tahrir, thus increasing pressure on Crimean Tatars for disagreeing with the occupation of Crimea.

On the morning of February 5, Russian security forces carried out mass searches of Crimean Tatar homes in the Dzhankoi (Canköy) district of temporarily occupied Crimea (Qırım). So far, five people have been detained, Crimean Solidarity says.

The occupiers searched the homes of the son of political prisoner Emir Kurtnezirov in the village of Lobanovo, Rustem Mustafaiev from Rodnikovo, Abibulla Smedliaiev from Novokrymske, Mirzaali Tazhybaiev from Yarke Pole, and Bakhtiiar Ablaiev from Kovylne.

At 06:25, FSS officers detained Kurtnezirov and Smedliaiev. They were taken to Simferopol (Aqmescit) for investigation.

Kurtnezirov's sister Emira told about the search in her brother's house. She said that the security forces came to their house at 4 am, ‘armed, planted literature, turned the whole house upside down’.

Later, Shefikha Mustafaieva reported that her husband was also detained. Rustem Mustafaiev was taken to Simferopol.

FSS officers also detained Tajibaiev and Ablaiev. All of them are suspected under Article 205.5 of the Russian Criminal Code ‘Organisation of a terrorist organisation and participation in the activities of such an organisation’. In fact, Russian security forces have started another ‘Hizb ut-Tahrir case’ in Crimea, human rights activists said.

On February 5 and 6, preventive measures were imposed on Emir Kurtnezirov, Bakhtiiar Ablaiev, and Mirzaali Tazhybaiev. The Kyiv District Court of occupied Simferopol (Aqmescit) ordered their detention for one month and 30 days—until April 4, 2025.

The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, has sentenced 23-year-old Kherson region resident Rustam Chyzhyk to ten years in prison for allegedly preparing a terrorist act, according to the press service of the FSB department in the Rostov region.

Chyzhyk was also accused of illegally acquiring, transferring, selling, and storing explosive devices.

He will serve the first two years of his sentence in prison, with the remainder in a maximum-security colony. Additionally, he has been fined 30,000 rubles.

According to Russian security forces, the resident of Hornostaivka was involved in the preparation of a terrorist attack against Russian military personnel stationed in the region. For this purpose, he allegedly planned to use a live grenade and two TNT blocks.

Russians detained Chyzhyk in his home on November 13, 2023. , the Centre for Investigative Journalism reported that during the preliminary detention, security forces seized his documents and accused him of allegedly possessing weapons. Rustam's relatives believe that the Russians could have planted the weapon during the ‘search’. 

The man was also forced to take a Russian passport, but he refused.

Three prisoners of war from the 91st Separate Anti-Tank Battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine—Kostiantyn Ochymovskyi, Oleksii Nechyporuk, and Vitalii Honobobliev—have been convicted in Russia for allegedly committing ‘terrorist acts’ in the Kursk region, according to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

The Russians claim that servicemen Ochimovskyi, born in 1983, Nechyporuk, born in 1993, and Honobobliev, born in 1969, were located in the Sudzhansky and Korenevsky districts. 

There, they allegedly intimidated locals, forcibly occupied private homes, obstructed the evacuation of civilians and fired at Russian military personnel. 

All three men pleaded guilty in the courtroom video. As a result, the Russian court sent Ochimovskyi to a maximum-security colony for 15 years, and Nechyporuk and Honobobliev to 16 years.

The Ukrainian defenders were captured on September 11, 2024, and have the status of prisoners of war, so it is illegal to accuse them of terrorism. 

A Russian ‘court’ in the occupied Kherson region has accused Serhii Chebukin, a 62-year-old pensioner from the village of Nova Maiachka, of ‘treason’ and sentenced him to 12.5 years in a maximum-security prison, the Centre for Investigative Journalism informs.

In addition to his imprisonment, Chebukin received a fine of RUB 350,000.

Occupation authorities claim that in the spring of 2023, Chebukin allegedly transferred money through a foreign bank account to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Russian security forces accused him of providing financial assistance to a foreign state and engaging in activities against the security of the Russian Federation.

Initially, the Russians accused Chebukin of ‘criminal ties’ with the British Council, an international cultural and educational organization, and charged him with ‘espionage.’ However, they later reclassified the case as ‘high treason.’

In the Russian video, filmed after his arrest, the man talks about his pro-Ukrainian position, and support for Euromaidan and the Armed Forces. The video also says that in 2019, he allegedly met Svitlana Voloshyna from Kyiv, who moved to the UK after the full-scale invasion. There, she allegedly began to work with the British Council and encouraged Serhii to pass on information about the location of occupation equipment and the military via a chatbot.

The man said he refused because he was afraid that the strikes could damage his village

An illegal ‘Sevastopol (Aqyar) City Court’ has sentenced a resident to five years in prison for allegedly cooperating with Ukraine’s special services.

Krym.Realii reports, citing a statement from the illegally created ‘FSS department’ in Crimea, which was circulated by Russian propaganda media.

According to the investigation, the woman allegedly established contact with representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine via the Telegram messenger and, ‘acting on their instructions,’ gathered and transmitted information about Russian armed forces activities in Sevastopol.

As a result, the occupation ‘court’ sentenced her to five years in a general-regime penal colony, followed by a one-year restriction of liberty.