Russian Prisons Fail Seriously Ill Political Prisoners in Crimea

Among the political prisoners held in Russian prisons and detention centers are seriously ill people with disabilities.

According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, due to inadequate conditions of detention in pre-trial detention centers and prisons, systematic ignoring of complaints about their health and untimely medical care, their health condition continues to deteriorate.

"Unfortunately, we have already had deplorable consequences when 60-year-old political prisoner Dzhemil Gafarov, who had a group 2 disability, died, as well as 61-year-old Konstantin Shiring and 60-year-old Rustem Virati, who had health problems," the CTRC emphasized.

According to the CTRC, they are currently in prisons and colonies of the Russian Federation:

• Zekirya Muratov - group 3 disability.
• Oleksandr Sizikov - group 1 disability.
• Timur Ibragimov - group 3 disability.
• Servet Gaziev - group 2 disability.
• Amet Suleymanov - group 3 disability.
• Timur Yalkabov - group 3 disability.
• Rustem Seitmemetov - group 3 disability.
• Mykola Petrovsky - group 3 disability.
• Remzi Kurtnezirov, who has a group 2 disability, is currently under house arrest.

"There is an increase in the number of violations of the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health in the occupied Crimea. Thus, according to the CTRC, in 2024, at least 64 cases of violations of the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health were recorded, 56 of them were against Crimean Tatars. For the same period in 2023, 52 (43) were recorded, and in 2022 - 36 (32)," the CTRC noted.

In 2024, at least 56 Crimeans were persecuted by the Russian authorities in Crimea. Russian security forces also conducted 45 illegal searches on the peninsula. In addition, at least 61 activists, 29 of whom were representatives of the Crimean Tatar people, have been killed during the occupation of Crimea.

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