Feb. 3, 2025, 8:29 p.m.

Missing Crimean Tatar Prisoner Servet Gaziev: Family's Search for Justice

(Photo: Qirim media)

In December 2024, the Russian occupiers transferred illegally convicted 64-year-old Crimean Tatar Servet Gaziyev from prison #2 in the Vladimir region. Since then, his family does not know where he is.

According to Qirim media, this was reported by the prisoner's sister Svetlana Ablyamitova.

According to the woman, the last time Gaziev called in early December, he was informed by Zonetelecom that he "could be taken from prison to the colony at any moment".

"I immediately sent money to his account to buy everything he needed for the trip. On December 19, I wrote him a letter asking whether he had received the money, but there was no response," Ablyamitova said.

Servet Gaziev was involved in the case of the "second Simferopol group" of Hizb ut-Tahrir. Most of the defendants were detained during mass searches in Crimea in March 2019. All detainees were accused of involvement in the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir.

She said she thought her brother was having difficulty writing again. Due to the stroke he suffered in 2021 and the beating in a psychiatric hospital, when Gaziev's beard was forcibly shaved and his collarbone was dislocated, his right hand hurt and his fingers were numb.

"But there was no letter and no letter. In January, I wrote to him again, sent a letter on January 9. I thought maybe the correspondence had been suspended because of the holidays. I waited until January 16, but there was no letter again. Then I called the prison's accounting department, and they told me that there was no such prisoner - he was sent to the stage. They did not say where or on what date he was sent," the prisoner's sister added.

According to the human rights organization CrimeaSOS, 117 people are being persecuted in the annexed Crimea for belonging tothe Hizb ut-Tahrir organization. 108 people are currently in penitentiary institutions, 3 are under house arrest, 84 people have received illegal convictions and 5 more have served illegal prison terms.

The occupiers in prisons are trying to break down the residents of Crimea. In the first 9 months of 2024, Russian security forces placed Crimean political prisoners in punishment cells, special blocks and solitary confinement at least 16 times. It is noted that, in particular, the following offenses were committed: Server Zekiryayev (3), Server Mustafayev (2), Teymur Abdullayev, Eskender Abdulganiyev (2), Ali Mamutov, Oleg Prykhodko, Seyran Saliyev, Serhiy Tsygipa, Edem Smailov, Marlen Asanov, Rustem Gugurik and Remzi Bekirov. In total, since 2017, 10,018 violations of fundamental human rights have been recorded in the Russian-annexed Crimea, 6,730 of which were committed against members of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people.

Олеся Ланцман

You might also like:

Dec. 20, 2025

SBU destroys two Russian planes in Crimea for $70 million

An employee of a railroad car depot during the occupation of Kherson exported grain to Crimea

UN General Assembly resolution mentions names of Crimean Tatar political prisoners

Dec. 19, 2025

Occupation authorities sold a seaport in Crimea to a Moscow company

Dec. 18, 2025

SBU destroys hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Russian equipment in Crimea

Russians turned the Ai-Petri plateau in Crimea into a quarter of officials

Dec. 17, 2025

18-year-old Crimean man travels 3000 kilometers to return to Ukraine

Dec. 16, 2025

Odesa court bans public organization of fugitive MP Markov

Occupation authorities declare nationalization of Usyk's property in Crimea

Russia tightens control over Kerch bridge before holidays

Dec. 15, 2025

Crimean military court imprisons Donetsk native for desertion from Russian army

Minister of Ecology of Crimea under the occupiers was sentenced to 14 years for high treason

Saudi Arabia is among the buyers of stolen grain from Crimea

Dec. 14, 2025

Guerrillas scouted the main logistics hub of the Russian Navy in Crimea

In Simferopol, the occupiers checked the belongings of residents under the guise of exercises