CrimeaSOS: Ukrainian human rights defenders call for condemnation of the sentence against citizen journalist Amet Suleimanov

Representatives of Ukrainian human rights organizations call for an end to the politically motivated persecution of citizen journalist Amet Suleimanov. This is stated in the joint statement of human rights defenders, which was published today, said the Head of the Board of CrimeaSOS Oleksii Tilnenko.

“Illegally imprisoned citizen journalist Amet Suleimanov has serious health problems. Staying in a place of detention, where there is actually no medical care, can potentially lead to the death of another Crimean political prisoner”, —Oleksii Tilnenko said.

On April 6, 2023, russian security forces took Amet Suleimanov into custody and took to the Simferopol pre-trial detention centre. He is a citizen journalist of “Crimean Solidarity”, who was under house arrest due to a heart condition. Earlier, the southern district military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced him to 12 years in a strict regime colony under the fabricated case of “terrorism”.

Ukrainian human rights defenders appealed to the governments of foreign countries and international organizations, in particular the participants of the International Crimean Platform, with a call for the following actions:

• demand the russian federation to stop the politically motivated criminal prosecution of Amet Suleimanov and release him;
• hold international consultations to find mechanisms for the release and monitoring of the state of health of Ukrainian prisoners on the territory of the russian federation and the occupied territories;
• introduce personal sanctions against persons involved in the illegal imprisonment of Amet Suleimanov and other citizens of Ukraine in the occupied territories;
• provide assistance to the Government of Ukraine in the investigation of war crimes, crimes against humanity and gross violations of human rights in the occupied Crimea and other occupied territories.

We shall remind you that the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) reacted to the appeal of the Crimean political prisoner Amet Suleimanov regarding the imposition of a punishment incompatible with his state of health. Due to serious heart diseases and the lack of proper medical care in the russian penitentiary system, Amet Suleimanov’s sentence is effectively a sentence to a slow death.