CrimeaSOS: at least 29 Crimean political prisoners were transferred to russian penitentiary institutions in 2024
15 / 01 / 2025
During 2024, at least 29 Crimean political prisoners were transferred to various penitentiary institutions in the russian federation to serve their illegal sentences. This was reported by CrimeaSOS analyst Yevhenii Yaroshenko.
“Some of them were taken from russian pre-trial detention centres to correctional colonies or prisons, some were transferred from prisons to correctional colonies, where the attitude of the administration is often more cruel than in prisons”, – Yevhenii noted.
The list of those transferred includes the blind Oleksandr Sizikov, who has group I disability, Volodymyr Sakada, Remzi Bekirov, Raim Aivazov, Aider Dzhapparov, Vladlen Abdulkadyrov, Eldar Kantymyrov, Osman Arifmemetov and others.
Political prisoners are kept thousands of kilometres from their homes. Of all the political prisoners, Riza Izetov is currently in the most remote place.
Riza Izetov is a participant of the “Second Simferopol Group of Hizb ut-Tahrir”, sentenced to 19 years in prison for allegedly organizing the activities of a political cell of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is considered terrorist in the russian federation. In early October 2024, the human rights activist was transferred to correctional colony #1 of the Republic of Sakha, located 9 thousand kilometres from Crimea.
On January 21, the occupation Krasnohvardiiske District Court will consider the lawsuit of Riza Izetov’s mother to transfer her son closer to home. Due to cancer, 71-year-old Nadiie is unable to visit Riza. She hadn’t seen him for 6 years.
The ECtHR has repeatedly stated that the refusal to transfer the applicant to a prison located closer to his parents’ home constitutes a violation of the right to respect for private and family life (Rodzevillo v. Ukraine, §§ 85-87; Khodorkovskiy and Lebedev v. Russia, §§ 831-851). In June 2024, the ECHR issued a ruling in the interstate case “Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea)”, in which the Court ruled that the transfer of Crimean prisoners to penitentiary institutions on the territory of russia violates the right to respect for family life, and obliged russia to ensure their safe return.
The CrimeaSOS analyst also notes that during 2024, the occupiers transferred at least 10 Crimean political prisoners from the Simferopol pre-trial detention centre to the Rostov-on-Don pre-trial detention centre to participate in an illegal trial.
Transfers of victims of politically motivated cases from Crimea is equivalent to the illegal deportation of civilians from the occupied peninsula and is a war crime. According to Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, civilians accused of committing a crime “shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein.”
We would like to remind you that during 2023, at least 14 victims of politically motivated persecution in Crimea were transferred to prisons in the russian territory.