Russia continues the genocide of Crimean Tatars, - Denisova
"The aggressor country continues the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people – illegal searches of their homes are carried out, and political prisoners are held in inhumane conditions in places of incarceration on the territory of the Russian Federation and temporarily occupied Crimea. The purpose of the searches is only one thing – to break the resistance of the Crimeans at any cost," the Ombudsman writes.
She recalled that recently such a search took place in the house of the Crimean Tatar family of Sheide Asanova in the village of Kurske in the Belgorod region. "The Russian Guard and riot police were involved in searched, but no documents or objects, which the Russian invaders planned to find, were identified," she said.
The Commissioner stressed that Teymur Abdullayev (a person involved in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case) was held in a pre-trial detention center for 90 days, and the prison administration invented formal reasons each time to extend the detention period again.
According to the Ombudsman, Ruslan Nagayev was recently placed in a punishment cell for having covered himself with a blanket during the day, because it was freezing in the cell. And for half a year Ruslan Suleymanov has been experiencing severe problems with the musculoskeletal system, and recently he had felt acute pain in the neck, which does not allow him to move freely. However, after repeated appeals to the prison administration to conduct a medical examination and provide the necessary medical assistance, medical workers were limited to only a few injections of painkillers, Denisova notes.
According to her, the detainee Tofik Abdulgaziev (a person involved in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case) has a high temperature of up to 38 degrees for a long time and suffers from acute pain in the right kidney and joints. However, the administration of the penitentiary institution seized personal belongings and medicines during the searches, and medical assistance is not provided.
The head of the local religious community Lenur Khalilov, according to the Commissioner, has health problems but refuses to provide detailed information even to his lawyer, because he is afraid that the prison management will put pressure on him and worsen the conditions of detention.
"Such treatment of political prisoners of the Kremlin is unacceptable because it violates the norms of international and even Russian national legislation," Denisova said.
She appealed to the Russian Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkovaya to protect the rights of Ukrainian citizens: to provide them with appropriate detention conditions and to facilitate the provision of necessary medical care per international standards for the treatment of prisoners.
The Ukrainian Ombudsman also called on the international community to join forces and increase pressure on the aggressor country to return home all prisoners of the Kremlin as soon as possible and stop the persecution of civilians in the Ukrainian Crimea.
