After the occupation of Crimea by the rf, detentions and arrests of people have become a regular practice. Unfortunately, political prisoners who are in Russian places of detention have to go through a real hell. After all, conditions in pre-trial detention centres and colonies are extremely bad, Russians violate the rights of political prisoners brutally, torture and threaten them.
Some political prisoners, so to speak, managed to escape from this hell and return to Ukraine as part of the exchanges. So, for all the time of the occupation of Crimea the following people were returned:
- Gennady Afanasyev, who was previously sentenced to 7 years in a strict regime colony. The man was detained on 10 May 2014, and on 14 June 2016 was returned to Ukraine as part of the exchange. In total, he stayed in the pre-trial detention centre for 2 years.
- Akhtem Chiyhoz, who was previously sentenced to 8 years in prison. The man was detained on 29 January 2015, and on 25 October 2017 was released and handed over to Turkey. In total, he stayed in the pre-trial detention centre for 2 years and 11 months.
- Ilmi Umerov, who was previously sentenced to 2 years in a penal colony. The man was detained on 12 May 2016, but was released on his own recognisance and handed over to Turkey on 25 October 2017. He was under compulsory psychiatric evaluation for 21 days from 18 August to 7 September 2017.
- Oleg Sentsov, who was previously sentenced to 20 years in prison. The man was detained on 10 May 2014 and released on 7 September 2019 as part of an exchange. In total, he stayed in the pre-trial detention centre for 5 years and 3 months.
- Alexander Kolchenko, who was previously sentenced to 10 years in a colony. The man was detained on 10 May 2014, and released on 7 September 2019 as part of the exchange. In total, he stayed in the pre-trial detention centre for 5 years and 3 months.
- Yevgeny Panov, who was previously sentenced to 8 years in a strict regime colony. The man was detained on 7 August 2016, and released on 7 September 2019 as part of the exchange. In total, he stayed in the pre-trial detention centre for 3 years and 1 month.
- Vladimir Balukh, who was previously sentenced to 3 years and 7 months. The man was detained on 8 December 2016, and on 7 September 2019 was released as part of the exchange. In total, he stayed in the pre-trial detention centre for 2 years and 9 months.
- Edem Bekirov, who was previously sentenced to 7 years in prison. The man was detained on 12 December 2018, and released on 7 September 2019 as part of the exchange. In total, he stayed in the pre-trial detention centre for 9 months.
- Nariman Jelal, who was previously sentenced to 17 years in prison. The man was detained on 3 September 2021 and released as part of an exchange on 28 June 2024. In total, he stayed in Russian places of detention for almost 3 years.
- Lenie Umerova, who was detained on 4 December 2022 and released as part of the exchange on 13 September 2024. In total, she was held in Russian places of detention for almost 2 years.
Ten years of the occupation of Crimea have already passed. The number of political prisoners is growing rapidly. According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Centre, 356 political prisoners and those prosecuted in criminal ‘cases’ during the occupation of Crimea have been recorded, 222 of them are representatives of the Crimean Tatar people.
Moreover, with the outbreak of full-scale war in Ukraine, the practice of persecution and repression of the pro-Ukrainian population spread in the newly occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Centre continues its active work at the local, national and international levels to draw attention to the criminal actions of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied Crimea, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Centre demands the immediate release of all political prisoners in Crimea. We will continue to work for the release of all hostages of the Kremlin who are still in places of detention. Each of them must return to their families. We are doing our best to make this happen as soon as possible.