Asan Akhmetov: Ukrainian Journalist's Fate in Russian Detention

Civilian journalist Asan Akhmetov was transferred by Russians from the Vladimir Central Prison to a penal colony.

According to Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, Asan was in Nizhny Novgorod on February 17. His exact location is currently unknown.

"Asan is one of the media workers illegally detained by the Kremlin. On September 3, 2021, in Crimea, FSB officers detained Nariman Dzhelal and brothers Asan and Aziz Akhtemov on suspicion of blowing up a gas pipeline in the village of Perevalne, which occurred on August 23, 2021," the statement said.

In a trumped-up case, Asan was sentenced to 13 years in a strict regime colony with a fine of 500 thousand rubles and a 1-year restriction of liberty.

At the end of 2024, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine presented a special edition titled "Trials for Truth in Crimea: Stories of 20 Ukrainian Journalists Subjected to Russian Repression". This is the first large-scale study that highlights the mechanisms of fabrication of criminal cases against media representatives on the occupied peninsula. According to human rights activist Daria Svyrydova, the occupation authorities use falsified evidence and testimonies obtained under torture to accuse journalists of terrorism and espionage.

Over the two years of war, 70 media workers have become victims of the Russian invasion. Of these, 10 were killed while carrying out their journalistic activities, 47 as combatants, and 13 as a result of Russian shelling or torture.

Also at the end of the year, it became known that at least 121 activists, volunteers, human rights defenders and journalists were killed as a result of the full-scale war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine.

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