Bariiev notes that the conditions of detention are extremely cruel: “In a cell designed for 7 people (respectively, 7 beds), there can be up to 25 people, or 60 people can be in a very cramped space designed for a maximum of 15 people, and in a colony you can be in the same room with 250 people who are all together 24/7, as if in one barracks.”
He also emphasized that the living conditions of political prisoners in these institutions are terrible: fungus, dirt, mold, unsanitary conditions and lack of access to fresh air.
It is known that political prisoners are taken to bathe once a month and given 15 minutes to do so, forcing them to wash in their clothes. There are frequent complaints about the lack of cold or hot water in the tap, poor lighting, which causes many political prisoners to lose their eyesight.
Another serious problem is the lack of access to medical care and medicines.
“The medical unit does not even have basic medicines and equipment, such as thermometers. Political prisoners, including the elderly and disabled, live without access to the necessary treatment… Dental treatment is not provided at all, which is why many political prisoners have already lost several teeth, and elderly political prisoners in Crimea cannot chew food properly due to the absence of many teeth and problems with dentures and bridges. All the complaints to the medical unit are answered with the answer that this is not a resort,” Bariev emphasized.
Bariiev also drew attention to the terrible food in the detention centers: “The food is often moldy or expired. Muslims often receive dishes with pork, which makes them starve.”
“Illegal transfer of political prisoners in Crimea is the subject of a separate post, but usually a person is placed in a narrow cage-like space in a car, the so-called pencil/glass (60*60 cm in size), in which they are transported from Crimea to the territory of the Russian Federation. During the journey, which is up to 12 hours, they do not make a single stop so that a person can go to the toilet. Depending on where you are taken from Crimea, the stage can last for several weeks or even months, and all this time relatives do not know anything about where and in what condition their loved one is,” Eskender Bariiev explained.
Torture in pre-trial detention centers and basements is also commonplace.
“Political prisoners can be forced to sit on a 6-8 cm wide bench for hours without being able to get up from it for even a minute, stand during the day with their arms raised, bent, head down, without being able to correct their falling glasses, crawl around the room on all fours, be taken to the field at night and forced to dig their own grave, shoot near their ears or above their heads… This is only a small part of the abuse, accompanied by psychological pressure and endless threats against relatives and friends,” – Bariiev notes.
In addition to this, political prisoners are often forced to join the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces or learn to fly drones for the so-called “special military operation”.
“This is how Russians trade freedom, selling their lives,” – Bariiev concludes.
According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, there are currently 362 political prisoners in the occupied Crimea, 223 of whom are still in detention, and 138 of them are representatives of the Crimean Tatar people.
“I want to emphasize that all these inhumane conditions of detention and offers of ‘release’ are degrading treatment, and the Russian Federation specifically uses these tools to put pressure on political prisoners and intimidate their relatives,” – he added.
“I am sure that sooner or later justice will prevail! Crimea will be definitely de-occupied, and everyone involved in human rights violations in Crimea will be punished,” Eskender Bariev emphasized in his post.