Russia illegally detains at least 181 Kremlin prisoners

According to the Mission of the President of Ukraine in ARC, this is the number of detained Ukrainian citizens illegally detained by Russians in occupied Crimea or taken to the peninsula. Forty of them are arrested, one hundred and twenty-two are imprisoned, eighteen have no procedural status, and two have been released but are still in the centre for the temporary detention of foreign nationals. About 60% of the illegally detained are Crimean Tatars.  

Russians also illegally detained Ukrainians in other temporarily occupied regions. However, there is less public information about their fates, as Russia denies the facts of these illegal arrests. 

In addition, the Russians have taken several thousand prisoners convicted by Ukrainian courts out of Kherson. They are now being held in the temporarily occupied territories and Russia.

Since October 2022, Hennadii Lasynskyi has been held in Simferopol. Until now, his whereabouts have not been publicly known. However, the Crimean Human Rights Group managed to find him.

The man lived in the village of Velyka Kardashynka, Kherson region, which is under temporary occupation.

The occupation security forces falsified a case against Lasynskyi according to Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation, shipment or carrying of large-calibre firearms). 

In October, he was taken from the Kherson region to the temporarily occupied Simferopol, where he is being held.

The Russians illegally entered the house of relatives of Kurultai delegate Asan Abduramanov, the home of Kurultai member Lemar Yunusov, Crimean Tatar activist Rolan Osmanov and Akhtem Ismailov. 

The security forces motivated the searches by the fact that they were allegedly investigating the case of damage to the railway near Poshtove. On February 24, the Ateş [Fire] military partisan movement claimed they had carried out an operation to damage the railway.

Abduramanov has not lived in Crimea for several years, but his wife, children and grandchildren remain in Bağçasaray. The occupation forces illegally took away their phones.

The same thing happened in the house of Crimean Tatar Akhtem Ismailov. During the search, the security forces used dogs, although Ismailov asked not to do so - Islam forbids allowing dogs into homes. After the search, they took Ismailov to the FSS department. He was interrogated as a 'witness' to the damage to the railway and later released. 

An illegal search also took place in the house of the Kurultai delegate, Lemar Yunusov. The occupation forces searched the house for an hour but found nothing. 

Later, they conducted another illegal search at the home of Crimean Tatar Rolan Osmanov. The man participated in protests against the destruction of the Khan's Palace in the temporarily occupied Bağçasaray. Osmanov also supported illegally detained Ukrainian citizens by participating in the hearings of the occupation courts. 

The occupation security forces took Osmanov to the FSS. His lawyer is not allowed to visit him.

The "sentences" refer to: 

Butkevych Maksym, a human rights activist and journalist, joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the beginning of the full-scale invasion and was captured in June 2022. He was "sentenced" to 13 years in prison. 

▪️ Shel Vladyslav, a soldier who took part in the defence of Mariupol. He was 'sentenced' to 18.5 years in prison. 

▪️ Pohozei Viktor - a serviceman who took part in the defence of Mariupol. He was 'sentenced' to 8.5 years in prison.

The occupation forces claim that on June 4, Butkevich allegedly fired a grenade launcher at civilians in Severodonetsk. However, on June 4, he was still in the Kyiv region. The Graty media gained access to Butkevich's correspondence with friends, which shows that his unit did not move east until June 14. 

There is no public information about Shel or Pohozei.

They did not disclose his identity, but it is known that the man is 39 years old. 

The reports of the occupation forces evidence it. 

They claim that the abductee was allegedly a Noman Çelebicihan volunteer Battalion member.

Neznamov served in the 115th Separate Mechanised Brigade and was taken prisoner. 

Russian security forces published a video in which Neznamov defamed himself, claiming that he had allegedly thrown a grenade at civilians.

The occupation forces abducted Abdulvapov on February 8, 2022. 

To repress the Crimean Tatar, the security forces used the words of an anonymous "witness". This "witness" recounted conversations about Islam in which Abdulvapov allegedly participated in 2015-2016. However, he could not explain what precisely the terrorist activity was. 

The occupation forces accused Adbdulvapov of being a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir. This organisation is considered a terrorist organisation in Russia but is permitted in Ukraine and European countries.