Exactly a year ago, on February 7, 2023, Crimean political prisoner Konstantin Schiring died in a Russian colony in the Orenburg region.
We would like to remind you that on April 15, 2020, Russian security forces detained alleged members of a Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage group, which allegedly included a Russian serviceman – Tetiana Kuzmenko and a Ukrainian citizen – Konstantin Schiring . The latter was accused of carrying out espionage activities on instructions from the Ukrainian special service.
On October 15, 2021, the Supreme court of Crimea sentenced Ukrainian Kostiantyn Shyrynh to 12 years for allegedly spying for Kyiv (Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
It is known that Konstantin Schiring repeatedly sought medical help and needed heart surgery, but it was not performed.
The death, and in fact the murder due to failure to provide medical care, of Konstantin Schiring in a Russian colony is proof of the inhuman conditions in which our citizens – prisoners of the Kremlin – find themselves. This, unfortunately, was confirmed a second time when another political prisoner Dzhemil Gafarov died.
The CTRC team systematically drew the attention of the international community to the “cases” of Dzhemil Gafarov and Konstantin Schiring , as well as all elderly people and people with disabilities who are being held by the Russian Federation, noting that the actions of the Russian Federation can have fatal consequences…
We emphasize that responsibility for the death of the men lies solely with the terrorist state – the Russian Federation.
The CTRC once again calls on the Ukrainian authorities to intensify efforts to release/exchange Kremlin political prisoners, in particular with the involvement of foreign and international institutions. After all, we see that this is not the first and, probably, not the last death.