~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 217 illegally imprisoned Ukrainian citizens, 132 of whom are Qırımtatarlar.

During the full-scale war, 3,445 Ukrainian citizens were returned to Ukraine.

A so-called court in the temporarily occupied Donetsk has sentenced the commander of the 501st separate battalion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleh Poluliakhov, to 27 years in a penal colony. According to the media outlet Zmina, the prisoner of war is accused of allegedly ill-treating civilians and murder.

Oleh Poluliakhov is an ATO (Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone — ed.) veteran. At the time of the full-scale invasion, he was the commander of the second section of the grenade launcher platoon of the fire support company of the 36th separate marine brigade of the 501st separate battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The so-called 'DPR' prosecutor's office accuses Poluliakhov of shooting civilians near the Mariupol Higher Metallurgical Vocational School and at the entrance to a high-rise building on Yermak Street in March 2022.

Crimean Tatar Rustem Osmanov has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for alleged involvement in the Noman Çelebicihan battalion. According to the Crimean Human Rights Group, the prisoner is not being released from the punishment cell, is being beaten and is being denied medical care because of his Ukrainian citizenship.

According to Rustem Osmanov, he received his first punishment in a colony in the town of Donskoy, in the Tula region of Russia, for not including toilet paper in the list of his personal belongings. The administration and its loyal prisoners create unbearable living conditions through moral and physical violence. Rustem has not been released from his punishment cell since July 16, and his sentence is constantly being extended without explanation.

Rustem has been denied medical care, effective painkillers (Osmanov has a tumour on his tailbone), letters from his family and correspondence.

According to Rustem Osmanov, Server, another Crimean Tatar convicted of alleged terrorism, is being held in similar conditions in the colony.

The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has extended the pre-trial detention of the 'First Dzhankoi Group' of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which includes Enver Krosh, civilian journalist Vilen Temeryanov, Rinat Aliyev, Murat Mustafayev, Seityagi Abbozov and Edem Bekirov, until November 29, despite the absence at the hearing of one of the Crimean Tatar activists in the case, Aliyev. This was reported by Crimean Solidarity.

During the hearing, the presiding judge read a report from Detention Centre-1 in Rostov-on-Don stating that Rinat Aliyev 'feigns illness and does not want to leave the cell'. Other participants in the case reported that Aliyev had become seriously ill due to a viral infection in the detention centre.

The lawyers and their clients requested that the next court hearing be postponed due to the health condition of one of the political prisoners. However, the court rejected the request after receiving a report from the Federal Penitentiary Service doctors stating that Aliyev 'has not complained about his health.'

Despite the defence's arguments that the political prisoners were being held in harsh conditions without justification, the court did not change the conditions of detention for the Crimean Tatar activists. Their trial began in 2022, and they were charged with involvement in the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is recognised as a terrorist organisation in Russia. 

Moscow has not accepted the cassation appeals against the verdict of the first instance and the decision of the Court of Appeal on the long sentences of Tofik Abdulgaziyev, Vladlen Abdulkadyrov, Izzet Abdullayev, Medzhit Abdurakhmanov and Bilal Adilov in the case of the 'Second Simferopol Group' of Hizb ut-Tahrir, writes Crimean Solidarity. The political prisoners will continue to serve their sentences in Russian colonies.

The activists were detained during one of the largest searches of Crimean Tatar homes in 2019. 

Tofik Abdulgaziyev contracted tuberculosis in prison, but the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical District Court refused to release the political prisoner. According to Russian doctors, Tofik 'does not need constant care and treatment in a specialised institution; he can be held in a general prison, and his condition is stable.'

The political prisoner Remzi Kurtnezirov has been sent to the Crimean Republic Clinical Psychiatric Hospital No. 1 despite his serious illness. He has suffered three strokes, a cranial trepanation, diabetes, and high blood pressure, and the right side of his body is not fully functional.

According to lawyer Emil Kurbedinov, investigators are not obliged by law to carry out a compulsory psychiatric examination in terrorism cases, but they regularly send political prisoners to psychiatric hospitals.

On August 26, one year after their arrest, Crimean Tatar activists from Bakhchysarai were able to see their relatives, reports Crimean Solidarity. 

The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has begun to consider the merits of the 'Fifth Bakhchysarai Group' case. This information was told by relatives of the political prisoners.

Six Crimean Tatars from Bakhchysarai — Seydamet Mustafayev, Eldar Yakubov, Abdulmedzhit Seytumerov, Ruslan Asanov, Ametkhan Umerov and Remzi Nimetulayev — are accused of allegedly participating in and organising the activities of a terrorist organisation. They face up to 20 years in prison. All six defendants in the case have told the court that they are not guilty and have not committed the crimes they are accused of. 

The activists have repeatedly been arrested at rallies in support of other imprisoned Crimean Tatars. One of the prisoners, Abdulmezhit, is the brother of two other political prisoners from Bakhchysarai, Osman and Seytumer Seytumerov, who were arrested in March 2020 and sentenced to 17 and 14 years in prison.

Crimean resident Ihor Korchynskyi has been found guilty of 'preparing an assassination attempt' on the so-called 'Head of Crimea' Sergei Aksenov. The Centre for Investigative Journalism reported this. The sentence is 18 years in a penal colony, with the first four years in prison and the rest in a penal colony, and a fine of 350,000 rubles (around $3,825).

According to the Russian investigation, Korchynskyi was allegedly 'recruited by the Security Service of Ukraine', which helped him acquire skills in the use of explosive devices. As a result, the court found Ihor Korchynskyi guilty of allegedly 'preparing a terrorist attack, undergoing terrorist training and illegal trafficking in explosives.'