Ukrainian, who disappeared a year and a half ago, was found in a detention center in Crimea

After almost two years of searching, it became known that the missing 45-year-old citizen of Ukraine Anatoliy Kobzar is being held in custody in occupied Akyar (Sevastopol). Russian special services claim that he was passing data on the positions of their air defense to Ukrainian intelligence.

This was reported by the head of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center and a member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariev.

According to him, the FSB accuses Kobzar of "high treason". Under this article, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Bariev said that the disappearance of Anatoliy became known in February 2025, when his relatives turned to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center for help in finding him.

"Dozens of publications, letters to all the so-called law enforcement agencies of Crimea, the advocacy campaign of the CTRC gave their result and the FSB in Crimea was forced to admit that the resident of Sevastopol, illegally detained on March 5, 2024, is in their torture chambers," Bariev noted.

"For 1 year and 7 months, the family had no information about the fate of their husband. The special services accuse Anatoliy Kobzar of allegedly photographing the positions of air defense facilities in Crimea, in particular in Sevastopol, and passing the information to Ukrainian intelligence.

For a year and seven months, his family had no information about his whereabouts. All this time, according to human rights activists, the man was held in special units, and later - hidden in one of the Crimean detention centers. Only recently, the occupation Leninsky Court of Sevastopol ruled to take the 45-year-old Kobzar into custody for two months.

One can only guess what tortures he was subjected to during this time," Bariiev emphasized.

As Bariev reminded, the story of the illegal abduction and persecution of Anatoliy Kobzar will be presented on October 13 during a side event at the OSCE Warsaw Human Dimension Conference.

Anatoliy Kobzar disappeared on March 5, 2024, when he went to work in Bakhchisarai and did not return home. The next day, his house was searched, but the occupation forces did not provide the family with any information. People who witnessed the detention reported that the man was detained by the FSB. Two weeks after the disappearance, Kobzar' s car was found in Bakhchisarai with broken windows.

Анна Бальчінос