~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 Qırım confirms 186 illegally imprisoned Ukrainian citizens, 60% of whom are Qırımtatarlar.

During the full-scale war, 2,576 Ukrainian citizens were returned to Ukraine, including 144 civilians.

On September 26, two Crimean Tatars were detained in Krasnokamianka and taken to an unknown destination. The men were released after interrogations at the so-called Centre for Countering Extremism in Simferopol  (Aqmescit).

Crimean Solidarity reported this.

The so-called law enforcement officers brought Emil Nazarbekov to his home and searched the house. They were allegedly looking for "drugs and weapons". After that, the Crimean Tatar was taken away in an unknown direction. 

Arsen Dzhepparov was detained near a local shop. 

"Arsen was twisted, thrown to the ground, and a weapon was put to his head," the statement says.

In 2016, Dzhepparov was illegally detained and accused of allegedly participating in a terrorist organisation. The so-called court sentenced the prisoner to seven years in jail. He served his sentence in colony No. 16 in Salawat, Bashkortostan. In the spring of 2023, Arsen Dzhepparov was released.

The Crimean citizen journalist has to stay in prison for another year. After that, he will be transferred to a colony.

This was reported by his lawyer Edem Semedliaiev, Crimean Solidarity writes.

"I hope that this explanation [of the court] will be enough for the prison administration not to keep him [Bekirov] longer than his due term," Semedliaiev said. 

The Kremlin prisoner is kept in harsh conditions. He cannot sit or lie on the bed during the day. He is only allowed to stand or sit on an iron bench. Calls home or deliveries are permitted only once a year.

Bekirov's lawyer reports that the prisoner feels satisfactory, does not lose heart and sends salam (greetings — Ed. note) to all. 

Remzi Bekirov is a civilian journalist who filmed searches and trials of politically motivated cases against residents of the temporarily occupied Crimea (Qirim). He was detained on March 27, 2019, during mass searches of Crimean Tatars on the peninsula. 

In 2022, Remzi Bekirov was sentenced to 19 years for allegedly participating in a terrorist organisation.

A hearing in the case of the illegally detained Pavlo Zaporozhets was held in Russia. In court, he spoke about torture and pressure under which he was forced to defame himself.

The Crimean Process reports this.

The man was detained after he had planted an explosive device on the path of a Russian patrol in the then-occupied Kherson in May 2022. 

The Russians tortured Zaporozhets for three months and then took him to the temporarily occupied Crimea (Qirim).

During the Southern District Court hearing on September 20, the "accused" spoke about torture, pressure from law enforcement and falsification of the case.

The prosecutor's office asked the court to disregard this testimony, as it differed from the one Zaporozhets gave during the pre-trial investigation. The prisoner reiterated that all his previous confessions had been signed under pressure.

"This pressure was expressed in systematic brutal beatings by special forces on the territory of the Simferopol (Aqmescit) Detention Centre No. 1 before and after the investigation," Zaporozhets said. 

As a result of the hearing, the court granted the motion of lawyer Oleksii Ladin to request materials to verify the fact of torture and abduction. Still, it refused to request information about Zaporozhets crossing the border with Crimea (Qirim).

A court in Rostov-on-Don has extended the arrest of Yaroslav Zhuk, accused of allegedly committing a terrorist attack, for three months.

This was reported by his lawyer, Oleksii Ladin, according to the Crimean Process.

Four prosecution witnesses came to the court hearing, including the so-called "director of the Department of Education" of the temporarily occupied Melitopol, Olena Shapurova. According to the investigation, she was allegedly the victim of an assassination attempt by Yaroslav Zhuk.

The convoy with the accused was held up for three hours, so the hearing was postponed to October 9.

It will be recalled that on June 17, 2022, an explosion occurred near the Melitopol Industrial and Economic College. The Russians detained Yaroslav Zhuk, who was passing by. After that, the security forces tortured the man and forced him to defame himself. Zhuk is accused of alleged terrorism.

Abdurakhmanov is being held in the Verkhneuralskaya prison in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia. It is still unknown where he may be transferred to.

This was reported by the prisoner's wife, Feride Abdurakhmanova, the Crimean Human Rights Group reports.

The wife also said that the health of the Kremlin prisoner had deteriorated significantly. Now, he needs surgery to remove hernias in the cervical spine. 

"He has seizures every few minutes, microinfarcts, and his body is failing. He needs to undergo surgery urgently. He is given the smallest amount of a drug, but it is not enough," said the prisoner's wife.

Ruslan Abdurakhmanov was detained on April 18, 2022, in the temporarily occupied Azovske in the Kherson region. Then, in Henichesk, he was forced to defame himself after torture and ill-treatment.

In August 2022, a Simferopol (Aqmescit) court sentenced Abdurakhmanov to five years for alleged involvement in the Crimean Tatar battalion named after Noman Çelebicihan.

In January 2023, the Kremlin prisoner handed over a letter asking the Ukrainian authorities for an exchange.