Sept. 14, 2024, 12:32 p.m.
(Photo: Crimean Solidarity)
Citizen journalist Remzi Bekirov was sent to the punishment cell of the penal colony №33 in Abakan (Republic of Khakassia, Russia) six times in a row for far-fetched reasons, such as "not wearing a hat" or "not greeting an employee".
This was reported by ZMINA.
According to media reports, Bekirov arrived at the colony on August 12, and he was immediately placed in quarantine. However, half a day later, the man was transferred to the punishment isolation ward. Since then, he has practically never left it: he is kept there for five, six, ten days.
Remzi Bekirov is a citizen journalist, activist of the Crimean Solidarity, and a correspondent for the online publication Grani.ru. He has been streaming politically motivated persecutions against residents of the peninsula. In addition, Ramsey is the initiator of the idea of collective assistance to the families of Crimean political prisoners.
As of today, Ramzi has been placed in the pre-trial detention center six times in a row. If he is released after five or six days, the same day he is sent back again for some far-fetched reason. That is, in fact, he practically never leaves the punishment isolator.
Among the reasons for keeping the Crimean Tatar in the punishment isolation ward is that he did not wear a headdress, did not greet any of the colony's employees, did not stay in his bunk, and read a prayer.
Remzi is closely watched in the colony, subjected to moral pressure and constant surveillance. For any action that can't even be called a violation, he is sent to the punishment cell. He can't read prayers properly, he has to do it in a twisted, sitting position, not in the way his religion requires.
It is known that the man plans to appeal against his detention in the isolation ward as completely unjustified.
Remzi Bekirov was detained when one of the most massive searches of Crimean Tatars took place in occupied Crimea on March 27, 2019, during which 20 people were arrested and illegally charged with alleged "terrorism". Over the next few days, five more Crimean Tatars were detained and charged in the so-called "Crimean Muslims case". Remzi Bekirov was among them.
Ramzi himself said this: "Russia is persecuting Crimean Tatars and Crimean Muslims for their dissent. For their unwillingness to think as the authorities say, for their unwillingness to be slaves on their own land. And on top of that, according to the investigation, my crime is that I dared to cover this lawlessness, becoming first a citizen journalist and then a professional correspondent."
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