Crimean Tatar political prisoner Timur Yalkabov has been returned to his cell at the Dimitrovgrad prison after three months of continuous detention in solitary confinement.
This was reported by Кrym.Realii citing Crimean Solidarity.
His health condition has significantly worsened, with Yalkabov having to pray sitting down due to severe knee pain. Additionally, his psoriasis has worsened, and he has lost 25 kilograms. Yalkabov has been systematically sent to the punishment isolation cell since being transferred to the Dimitrovgrad prison in December 2022. He suffers from chronic asthma, which the prison administration did not consider a medical contraindication for transferring him to solitary confinement.
Earlier, Yalkabov's wife Aliye filed a complaint against the administration of the colony in Dimitrovgrad with the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Ulyanovsk region, Sergei Lyulkov. However, no violations were found during the inspection, although the fact of the use of physical force against Timur Yalkabov was established. Aliye Yalkabova said that her husband was arbitrarily transferred to the isolation cell, his personal belongings were confiscated, and he was humiliated.
Yalkabov, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison in the case of Crimean Muslims, was transferred to the prison in Ulyanovsk Oblast in January 2023. Prior to this, he was held in the SIZO of Novocherkassk, Russia. Yalkabov informed his family that he would serve the first four years of his 17-year sentence in prison in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Oblast.
At the end of March 2022, the Southern District Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Crimean Tatar activists Timur Yalkabov and Lenur Seydametov to long prison terms for "participating and organizing terrorist activities in Crimea."
On February 17, 2021, mass searches took place in Bilohirsk, Bakhchysarai, Simferopol, Sevastopol, and the Soviet district of Crimea. After the searches, Lenur Seydametov, Timur Yalkabov, Azamat Eyupov, Yashar Shikhametov, Ernest Ibragimov, and Oleg Fedorov were taken to the Russian FSB administration in Crimea, where they were arrested and sent for forensic psychiatric examinations.
Crimean Tatars were accused of involvement in the activities of the religious organization "Hizb ut-Tahrir," which is banned in Russia but not restricted by national legislation in Ukraine and many other countries worldwide.
The Memorial Human Rights Center recognized the defendants in the "case of Crimean Muslims" as political prisoners.