Russian Federation/Ukraine: Release Crimean Activist On Health Grounds

Tofik Abdulgaziev is a member of a grassroot group Crimean Solidarity. Prior to his arrest in March 2019, he was organizing events for children of Crimean Tatars imprisoned on politically motivated charges. He was sending food parcels to Crimean Tatar prisoners in the pre-trial detention centres, visited courts hearings on politically motivated cases, came to support other Crimean Tatars during searches of their homes.

Tofik Abdulgaziev was among more than 20 Crimean Tatar activists arbitrarily arrested on 27 March 2019. Abdulgaziev was charged with participation in a terrorist organization (Article 205.5(2) of the Russian Criminal Code) and preparation for a violent seizure of power (Article 278). Russian authorities accused him of membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir, which they had arbitrarily designated a “terrorist organization”. The Southern District Military Court of Rostov-on-Don sentenced Tofik Abdulgaziev to 12 years’ imprisonment in May 2022.

In May 2023, a court upheld the sentence, and the Russian authorities sent Tofik Abdulgaziev to serve his sentence in a prison in Verkhneuralsk (a city about 2,000 km from his native Crimea). In March 2024, he was transferred in critical condition to a prison hospital in Chelyabinsk where he has reportedly been diagnosed with tuberculosis, pneumonia and other serious health conditions. He remained in the hospital at the time of writing. On 6 August, a court in Russia denied Tofik Abdulgaziev’s release on health grounds.

Crimean Solidarity was created in 2016 in response to the Russian authorities’ political and religious persecution of Crimean Tatars in the occupied Crimea. The group brings together activists, lawyers and the relatives of those who have been arrested and prosecuted, to ensure they can access legal aid, financial, medical and other vital support. The group also seeks to raise awareness about ongoing human rights violations in Crimea. Several prominent members of the Crimean Solidarity have been imprisoned on trumped-up charges.

Crimean Tatars are an Indigenous people of Crimea who made up an estimated 12 percent of the peninsula’s population before its occupation and illegal annexation by Russia in 2014. Many prominent members of the Crimean Tatar community have been among the most vocal critics of Russian discriminatory policies on freedom of religion and belief. The Russian de facto authorities have regarded the entire community as disloyal and targeted it with reprisals. People speaking up about human rights violations committed in Crimea since 2014 have faced persecution, including enforced disappearances, harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest, torture and other ill-treatment, and prosecution and long-term imprisonment following unfair trials on politically motivated charges.