~Russia illegally detains 25,000 Kremlin prisoners

According to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, this is the number of civilians abducted by the Russian Federation.

The ZMINA Human Rights Centre has found that at least 21 prisoners require urgent medical care and may die unless they receive it. 

During the full-scale invasion, the National Police began investigating the enforced disappearance of 8,800 people. Russian Children's Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova claims Russia has illegally abducted over 700,000 children from Ukraine.

The Media Initiative for Human Rights has identified about one hundred places where abducted civilians are held.

The Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Qırım) confirms 209 illegally imprisoned Ukrainian citizens, 126 of whom are Qırımtatarlar.

During the full-scale war, 3,135 Ukrainian citizens were returned to Ukraine, including 150 civilians.

On April 8, the writer and journalist Serhii Tsyhipa was transferred from the so-called Simferopol (Aqmescit) Detention Centre No. 2 to Russia. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

His wife and activist Olena Tsyhipa reported this in a comment to ZMINA.  

"I have just heard from my lawyer that Serhii was sent to Russia yesterday. We do not know exactly where he has been transferred to," his wife said.

It will be recalled that in February 202, a Russian court rejected an appeal against the conviction of Serhii Tsyhipa, a journalist from Nova Kakhovka, who was accused of "espionage". 

Serhii Tsyhipa is a journalist, civil activist and Anti-Terrorist Operation (launched by Ukraine in response to Russia's invasion of the east in 2014) veteran from the temporarily occupied Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region. On February 24, 2022, he created the project "Information Self-Defence of Nova Kakhovka". On March 12, he was abducted and accused of "espionage". The so-called court in Crimea (Qırım) sentenced Serhii Tsyhıpa to 13 years in prison. 

In the temporarily occupied Crimea (Qırım), the so-called Bakhchisaray (Bağçasaray) District Court transferred the case of civilian journalist Suleiman (Marlen) Asanov to the Mordovia Court. 

The lawyer Nazim Sheikhmambetov said this in a comment to Crimean Solidarity. 

The Crimean Tatar demanded that the actions of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, which refused to transfer him to a penal colony closer to his home to serve his sentence, be recognised as illegal. Asanov is currently being held in Penitentiary Colony No. 7 in the Mordovian village of Sosnovka in Russia. 

"They want to slow down the trial, make it long and monotonous and postpone as long as possible the consideration of the merits of the case," the lawyer said.

Suleiman (Marlen) Asanov is a citizen journalist and volunteer with Crimean Solidarity. He was arrested on October 12, 2017, and charged with "organising the work of Hizb ut-Tahrir", which Russia calls terrorist. In 2020, a court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the Ukrainian citizen to 19 years in prison. 

On April 9, the Crimean Court of Appeal upheld the decision to bring independent journalist Lutfiye Zudiyeva to administrative responsibility for allegedly "abusing freedom of the media". 

The Crimean Solidarity reported this.  

Lawyer Emil Kurbedinov recalled that the staff of the Centre for Countering Extremism searched Zudiyeva's house, seized some equipment, and then drew up several reports.

The Russians accused Lutfiye Zudiyeva of allegedly abusing the freedom of the media and fined her 500 rubles, which is equivalent to 6 dollars. Earlier, the so-called Centre for Countering Extremism had issued a report against her for "disseminating information about foreign agents or materials produced by them in the media without indicating the status of a foreign agent".

In the temporarily occupied Crimea (Qırım), the Court of Appeal refused to count the period of pre-trial detention as part of the sentence of political prisoner Crimean Tatar and member of the Red Guard group 'Hizb ut-Tahrir' Arsen Abkhairov.

The media outlet ZMINA reported this with reference to the words of the prisoner's lawyer, Rustem Kyamilev.

Kyamilev said that he would appeal the appeal court's decision in cassation.

It will be recalled that the defendants of the "Red Guard Hizb ut-Tahrir Group" were detained on February 14, 2019. Taking into account the period of detention in the pre-trial detention centre, Abkhairov was supposed to spend the first two years in prison. However, his time in the pre-trial detention centre was not counted as prison time. He is currently serving his sentence in prison No. 2 in Yeniseisk, Krasnoyarsk Territory, in the Russian Federation. 

Crimean human rights activist Server Mustafayev has been scheduled for a full heart examination following a complaint to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office by Olivia Moore, director of the human rights organisation Front Line Defenders, about the lack of medical care for the political prisoner.

His wife, Maye Mustafayeva, reported this in a comment to Crimean Solidarity. 

As a result of his prolonged detention, Mustafayev has developed heart problems. He was also diagnosed with a tumour under his chest — a lipoma. When he was sent to the colony in September 2022, he was offered an operation but refused because he was unaware of the conditions under which it would be carried out. 

Following Olivia Moore's appeal, Server underwent an electrocardiogram, but the human rights activist was never examined by a cardiologist. The colony administration promised to take Server to a specialist.

Server Mustafayev is a human rights defender who has been in Russian captivity since 2018. In 2020, a Russian court illegally sentenced him to 14 years in prison. Russian security forces fabricated terrorism charges against Mustafayev. 

The Kirovsky District Court in Crimea (Qırım) has handed down a one-year prison sentence in the case of Dlyaver Salimov, who was accused of making death threats on the grounds of political hatred. 

The Crimean Process organisation reported this.  

The verdict was announced in a closed session, in violation of the principle of public proceedings. Prior to the court's decision, Salimov was already in custody and had paid an administrative fine for "discrediting the Russian army". 

It will be recalled that on August 11, 2023, Crimean Tatar Dlyaver Salimov, in a conversation with a Crimean resident, was indignant that his interlocutor was wearing a cap with the symbol "Z" on it. Salimov verbally threatened his opponent and, using foul language, demanded that he take off the cap with the symbols of the Russian army. As a result, the "court" of the temporarily occupied Simferopol (Aqmescit) fined Salimov 4,000 rubles, which is equivalent to 42 dollars.

On November 2, 2023, "judge" Anastasiia Bodenko ruled that Salimov be held in custody for 52 days until December 23, 2023.