More than 40 illegally convicted Crimean political prisoners need immediate medical care

Currently, at least 41 of 218 illegally convicted Crimean political prisoners need immediate medical care, 31 of them are Crimean Tatars.

This was reported by the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets.

According to him, Crimean Tatar Rustem Gugurik is now fighting for his life in a Russian colony without proper medical care. The man was illegally sentenced in Russia to 8.5 years in a strict regime colony and is in critical condition without proper medical care in a colony in Buryatia. He suffers from serious health problems, and his condition is rapidly deteriorating: he has hearing loss, shortness of breath due to the lack of heart medication, stomach problems, and dental treatment.

"Rustem is being held in a barracks for 'terrorist-inclined' people, and in the last six months he has been placed in a punishment cell three times. In addition, he was repeatedly subjected to psychological and physical abuse," the Ombudsman noted.

He also emphasized that the inhumane treatment of Ukrainian citizens illegally imprisoned by Russia is systemic. The international community should intensify efforts to put pressure on Russia to immediately release all Ukrainian citizens illegally detained by it.

According to the press service of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, in 9 months of 2024, Russian security forces placed Crimean political prisoners in punishment isolators, special units and solitary confinement at least 16 times. The practice of placing Crimean political prisoners in punishment cells is already widespread and is not surprising. This trend began to be actively manifested in 2020. The occupiers continue to put pressure on our compatriots to "break" and subdue them.

Also, according to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, at least 177 Ukrainian prisoners died in Russian captivity after the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to Victoria Tsymbalyuk, a representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the more time prisoners of war spend in Russian prisons, the closer they are to death. She also noted that due to the lack of international control, the actual number of deaths in Russian prisons is likely to be much higher.

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