Blind Crimean political prisoner tells about his stay in Russian colony

Oleksandr Sizikov, a blind Crimean political prisoner convicted on trumped-up charges, was released after eight months of imprisonment and a 5,000-kilometer-long transfer. He has already returned home to Crimea, told about the harsh conditions of detention and plans to appeal the persecution.

This was reported by Suspilne.Krym.

As soon as he arrived at SIZO-1 in Simferopol, he was placed in a special block with six cells, two people in each. There are three pre-trial detention centers in Simferopol: No. 8 - for former security forces and officials, No. 2 - under the control of the FSB, where mostly Ukrainian citizens from Berdiansk, Melitopol, Mariupol, who defended the country, are held and where they were beaten and tortured.

After the verdict, Oleksandr Sizikov was transferred from the Simferopol pre-trial detention center to colony No. 7 in the city of Kopeysk, Chelyabinsk region of the Russian Federation. This is more than 5 thousand kilometers from Crimea. The transfer lasted almost two months.

According to the political prisoner, in the Kopeysk colony, he was placed in a quarantine cell for a month. Although the quarantine usually lasts only two weeks. The former prisoner noted that this was done intentionally - to isolate him from other prisoners and to make it difficult for him to communicate with volunteers and human rights activists. It was cold in the cell, and when he asked for a blanket, he was refused. Due to the poor food and conditions of detention, he lost weight and had health problems.

He also did not have proper access to medical care, despite being a person with a first-grade disability. The administration of the colony repeatedly refused to provide him with the necessary medicines or create conditions for a safe stay. His relatives and lawyers were unable to contact him, communication was limited, and letters were delayed or not received at all.

All this time, he remained in the status of a convict, although under Russian law he should not have served his sentence due to his disability. Eventually, in May 2025, the Russian prosecutor's office filed a motion for his release due to "inability to serve his sentence."

After being transferred to a colony in Minusinsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, in February 2025, a week before his hospitalization, the prisoner was transferred to an old block of the colony, where, according to him, it was cold, damp, the walls were wet, and water was dripping from the roof. Only after the examination in the hospital, the materials on his condition were submitted to the court on April 4.

The Crimean political prisoner was released in late May. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case, despite his group I disability and lack of evidence.

Анна Бальчінос