Former political prisoner Edem Bekirov, who was released on September 7 as part of an exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, has been in the Henichesk Central Hospital with a heart attack for more than two weeks. His wife, Gulnara Bekirova, reported this via her Facebook page.
“The horror that he endured in the Simferopol SIZO still lingers after 11 months. The state in which the Crimean Tatar people find themselves in their homeland haunts. Heart breaks. Guys who are illegally detained in Russian prisons, parents, families, children… All those who are waiting for them”,- the message says.
Recall that on December 12, 2018, when entering Crimea from the side of the Chongar checkpoint, Russian border guards detained a citizen of Ukraine, Crimean Tatar Edem Bekirov, born in 1961, a resident of the village of Novoalekseevka, Kherson region. He was detained at about 08.30 am while going through passport control. Until the evening, his whereabouts remained unknown.
We remind that on December 12, 2018, while trying to enter the Crimea through Chonhar checkpoint, Ukrainian national and Crimean Tatar Edem Bekirov, born in 1961, a resident of Novooleksiivka village of the Kherson region,
was arrested by the Russian border guards. He was detained at around 08:30 while undergoing passport control procedures. Until the evening his location remained
unknown.
On December 13, the so-called Kyiv District Court of Simferopol arrested Edem Bekirov until February 11, 2019. On the December 20 the FSB charged him with illegal trafficking of weapons and the illegal transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carriage of explosives (Part 2 of Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Part 2 of Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
On June 6, 2019, the so-called Kyiv District Court of Simferopol once again extended his detention term until the 12 th of August.
On June 11, 2019, the European Court of Human Rights decided to urgently place Edem Bekirov in the hospital.
On July 10, 2019, the European Court of Human Rights issued a new decision considering Edem Bekirov, according to which independent and specialized doctors should conduct a medical examination and eventually prepare separate, detailed conclusions on each of his health problems.
Edem Bekirov is one of the Crimean Tatar public activists of the village Novooleksiivka village. He is severely disabled. In January 2018, he underwent a complicated heart surgery, during which he had 4 shunts implanted. Moreover, the man is an amputee having his right leg removed below the knee and thus forced to wear a removable cast.