~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 217 illegally imprisoned Ukrainian citizens, 132 of whom are Qırımtatarlar.

During the full-scale war, 3,330 Ukrainian citizens were returned to Ukraine, including 160 civilians.

Six defendants of the fifth Bakhchysarai group of the Hizb ut-Tahrir case were transferred from Simferopol (Aqmescit) Detention Centre-2 in occupied Crimea (Qırım) to a pre-trial detention centre in Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

Aishe Yakubova, the wife of one of the political prisoners, stated this in a comment to Crimean Solidarity on August 2. 

The transferred individuals are Crimean Tatar activists Abdulmejit Seitumerov, Ametkhan Umerov, Eldar Yakubov, Seidamet Mustafaiev, Remzi Nimetulaiev, and Ruskan Asanov. 

Hizb ut-Tahrir is an Islamic political party. In Russia, it was recognised as a terrorist organisation in 2003, leading to the persecution of its members. They are accused of "unconstitutional activities" and attempting to establish a "world caliphate". Following the 2014 occupation of Crimea, the occupiers extended their legislation to the region, resulting in increased pressure on Crimean Muslims, particularly Crimean Tatars, who oppose the occupation of the peninsula.

A court in Chelyabinsk, Russia, has rejected a request from lawyers to release Tofik Abdulgaziev, a key figure in the "Crimean Muslims case," whose health has significantly deteriorated while in detention.

His wife, Alie Kurtametova, announced this on her Facebook page.

Earlier, Crimean political prisoner Tofik Abdulgaziev was sent to intensive care, where, after a month, in addition to tuberculosis, he was diagnosed with several illnesses. These include double pneumonia, minor left-sided hydropneumothorax (fluid in the lungs), anaemia, connective tissue dysplasia syndrome affecting the mitral valve (heart condition), chronic heart failure, and gastritis.

Tofik Abdulgaziev is an activist of the civil association Crimean Solidarity, a sound engineer, and a participant in the Crimean Childhood project. He has been involved in supporting political prisoners by delivering food to detention centres, attending politically motivated trials, and supporting compatriots during house raids.

Abdulgaziev was arrested on March 27, 2019, on unfounded charges and sentenced in a fabricated case alleging involvement in a terrorist organisation.

The occupational "Zaporozhye Regional Court" handed down a verdict against Kostiantyn Maksymov, a Ukrainian priest from Tokmak in the Zaporizhzhia region, sentencing him to 14 years in a strict regime colony. Based on fabricated Federal Security Service (FSB — ed.) charges, the priest was accused of spying for the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU — ed.).

This was reported by the Centre for Journalistic Investigations, citing information from the occupational "Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Crimea," which supported the accusations.

Since 2021, Kostiantyn Maksymov has been a priest at the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Berdiansk Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in Tokmak, Zaporizhzhia region.

In May 2023, he left the occupied city as part of a volunteer humanitarian mission towards Crimea. He was last contacted as he approached the Chongar checkpoint. Since then, nothing has been known about him.

Russian authorities claim that from April 2022 to February 2023, the priest allegedly collected information on the coordinates of Russian military positions in Tokmak and the Polohy district. Allegedly, he passed this data to an SSU collaborator via messenger.

Political prisoner, citizen journalist, and Crimean Tatar activist Remzi Bekirov was transferred from the Krasnoyarsk pre-trial detention centre and is finally being transferred to penal colony No. 33 in Abakan — the capital of the Republic of Khakassia.

He said this in a letter to his wife Khalide, Crimean Solidarity writes.

He was transferred on August 4 in a special railway carriage designated for transporting convicts and detainees. Bekirov did not provide details about his journey in his letter but mentioned that "there were many adventures along the way."

The Crimean Tatar will stay in the Abakan detention centre for three to six days, after which he will be sent to penal colony No. 33.

Remzi Bekirov is a citizen journalist, activist of Crimean Solidarity, and a correspondent for the online publication Grani.ru. He reported on politically motivated persecutions of peninsula residents via live streams. Additionally, Remzi initiated the idea of collective aid to families of Crimean political prisoners.

On March 10, 2022, the Southern Military District Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Remzi Bekirov to imprisonment for a term ranging to 19 years.

The so-called "court" in the Russian-occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region has sentenced 47-year-old Oksana Ivanchenko, a resident of Yakymivka village, to 15 years in prison for "state treason."

The ZMINA Human Rights Centre reports this.

The 47-year-old woman is to be sent to a general regime penal colony with a one-year restriction of freedom.

The occupational "prosecutor's office" accused her of allegedly transmitting data about the location of Russian troops and the military commandant's office in the village of Yakymivka, Zaporizhzhia region, to the Ukrainian side via messenger in May 2023. The Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly used the information for "precise strikes on targets."

A Russian court has sentenced three servicemen of the 55th Artillery Brigade to 15 years in prison for allegedly shelling a reinforced concrete bridge on the "Sloviansk-Donetsk-Mariupol" road.

The Russian Investigative Committee reported this.

The case involves the 55th Artillery Brigade servicemen Ihor Maslianka, Ivan Borysov, and Mykhailo Skorodko. They are accused of destroying the bridge, which allegedly disrupted transport links between settlements in the so-called "DPR" and hindered the evacuation of civilians from the combat zone.

It will be recalled that the Geneva Conventions consider such "trials" of prisoners of war as a crime.

A member of the Krasnohvardiiske group in the "Hizb ut-Tahrir case," Arsen Abkhaiev, needs surgery to remove varicose veins in his legs.

The Crimean Solidarity reports this with reference to the political prisoner's lawyer.

The human rights defender visited Abkhaiev in a Russian colony in Buryatia.

The political prisoner said that since May last year, he has been troubled by varicose veins in his legs. He needs surgical intervention, but in the colony, more time is required for recovery after the operation.

Earlier, the businessman from Crimea, a member of the Krasnohvardiiske group in the "Hizb ut-Tahrir case," Arsen Abkhaiev, sentenced to 13 years in prison, was transferred from the Russian prison in Yeniseisk, Krasnoyarsk Territory, to a strict regime colony in Buryatia.