Kremlin's prisoner from Crimea Kantimirov says he is being transferred to Buryatia

Crimean Eldar Kantimirov, convicted by the Russian Federation, informed his family about his upcoming transfer to the Republic of Buryatia (Russia) from prison No. 1 in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region of the Russian Federation.

According to Crimean Solidarity, Kantimirov wrote about the transfer in a letter to his wife Elvina Useinova on September 12. According to Kantimirov, he is being transferred to Buryatia, which is more than 7 thousand kilometers from the annexed Alushta, "in retaliation for demanding the observance of his rights and objecting to the violation of his rights in court while in prison."

"All my requests for a meeting with a representative of the administration were ignored. I heard rumors that this is because of my status as a political prisoner and my "excessive" activity in defending my rights and legitimacy," the Kremlin prisoner wrote.

In the letter, Eldar Kantimirov did not specify when he would be transferred and to which colony in Buryatia.

Earlier, the Russian-controlled Supreme Court of Crimea did not satisfy Kantimirov's complaint about his repeated placement in the punishment isolation ward ofthe Dimitrovgrad prison and refused to provide footage from the wardens' video recorders, as well as to summon witnesses and other Crimean political prisoners to court. They "saw how Eldar was being punished" and "were ready to confirm these facts," said lawyer Rustem Kiamilev.

Eldar noted that he was kept in the punishment cell because he is a citizen of Ukraine. In the punishment cell, his health problems worsened: he developed pain in the lower back and a pinched spinal nerve. The applications he wrote to the medical unit did not satisfy him. And the special medical mat he used to relieve his pain was taken away.

After searches in the homes of Crimean Tatars in Alushta, Belogorsk and Simferopol districts on June 10, 2019, eight men were detained: Ruslan Nahayev, Eldar Kantimirov, Ruslan Mesutov, Lenur Khalilov, Riza Omerov, Enver Omerov, Ayder Dzhepparov.

On August 16, 2021, the Southern District Military Court of the Russian Federation sentenced Ruslan Nagayev, Eldar Kantimirov, Ruslan Mesutov and Lenur Khalilov to the Alushta Hizb ut-Tahrir group. The men were sentenced to 13, 12 and 18 years in prison in a maximum security colony on charges of terrorist activity.

Later, the Military Court of Appeal in Vlasitsa, Moscow region, did not satisfy the appeals of the defense lawyers and upheld the sentence of the defendants.

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