Human rights defenders call for the release of seriously ill political prisoner Tofik Abdulhaziiev

Over the past seven months, the health condition of Crimean political prisoner Tofik Abdulhaziiev, sentenced to 12 years in a maximum security prison, has been extremely critical. His health deteriorated significantly during his detention, given the presence of chronic illnesses that were worsened by poor conditions of detention. In July 2023, Tofik Abdulhaziiev was transferred to a prison in Verkhneuralsk, Chelyabinsk region of the Russian Federation, 2,700 kilometres from his home. After the transfer, he began to lose weight rapidly and constantly complained of severe joint pain. 

In March 2024, Abdulhaziiev’s health worsened dramatically, and he was taken in critical condition to the prison tuberculosis hospital No. 3 in Chelyabinsk, where he was hospitalised in intensive care two weeks later. Later, Abdulhaziiev was diagnosed with 8 diseases: tuberculosis, bilateral pneumonia, small left-sided hydrothorax (fluid in the lungs), anaemia, connective tissue dysplasia syndrome with mitral valve disease (heart disease), chronic heart failure, gastritis, nephrolithiasis (kidney stones). Some of these diseases are included in the list of diseases that prevent detention in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation (RF Decree No. 54 of February 6, 2004 “On medical examination and representation of convicts to release from serving sentence in connection with disease”).

Immediately after the critical diagnosis of the political prisoner was made, in April 2024, the defence filed a petition with the court demanding that the Federal Penitentiary Service (FPS) release Tofik Abdulhaziiev, where the lawyers noted that the Crimean Tatar had been diagnosed with a disease that was included in the list of diseases that prevent serving time in correctional institutions. On July 8, 2024, the petition was to be considered, but the announcement of the court’s decision was postponed to August 6, allegedly due to technical reasons. In addition, it became known that the prosecution had conducted a medical examination by a medical commission, which concluded that Abdulhaziiev did not have any diseases listed in the relevant Russian resolution, and therefore could not be released.  

Tofik Abdulhaziiev was an activist of the NGO Crimean Solidarity, a sound engineer, and a member of the Crimean Childhood project. He also delivered food to political prisoners in pre-trial detention centres, attended courts in politically motivated cases, and came to support his compatriots during searches of their homes.  However, after a second search of his home, on March 27, 2019, Abdulhaziiev was arrested on false accusations and convicted in a trumped-up case of alleged involvement in a terrorist organisation. On that day, the most massive wave of arbitrary searches of the homes of other Crimean Tatars took place, after which 23 civilian journalists and activists were detained.

The Russian Federation, as the occupying power of a part of the territory of Ukraine and a party to the international armed conflict, arrogantly ignores the norms of international humanitarian law and systematically violates the human rights of Ukrainian citizens protected by the Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Through politically motivated persecutions, arbitrary detentions, illegal trials in the occupied Crimea, deportations of political prisoners and disregard for their situation in detention, Russia systematically violates its obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

During the last years of the Russian occupation of Crimea, human rights defenders have recorded many cases of indifference of penitentiary system employees and judges to the health of political prisoners and their medical care needs. Many political prisoners in the occupied Crimea and in Russia have been repeatedly denied urgent hospitalisation and access to medicines despite their urgent need, have not been provided with the necessary medical care, complaints about the lack of medical care have been ignored, and courts have upheld the verdicts of previous instances, including those of illegally convicted seriously ill and disabled persons. 

Two Crimean political prisoners, Dzhemil Hafarov and Kostiantyn Shyrinh, have already died in Russian prisons due to the systematic neglect of their health problems by judges and prison staff. This kind of inaction, dismissive attitude of Russian officials and neglect of the health of political prisoners poses a serious threat to their lives, which may lead to irreparable consequences.

We call on the Russian authorities to: 

• release Tofik Abdulhaziiev due to his critical health condition and release other political prisoners illegally detained on the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea, other temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and the Russian Federation;
• stop applying the criminal law of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine;
• stop the persecution of people in the temporarily occupied territories because of their political views, journalistic activities, activism and religion.

We call on the Ukrainian authorities to:

• include Tofik Abdulhaziiev on the exchange list and actively advocate for his release;
• develop an effective mechanism for the release of arbitrarily detained civilians and advocate for their return;
• effectively support the families of political prisoners and improve the mechanism for recognising people deprived of their liberty as a result of Russian aggression.

We call on the international community to:

• send a request to the Russian Federation Ombudsman Tetiana Moskalkova with a demand to release Tofik Abdulhaziiev due to his critical health condition (Moskalkova@ombudsmanrf.ru);
• act as a mediator in the process of releasing or arbitrarily detaining civilians;
• fully support Ukraine in the liberation of all temporarily occupied territories, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol;
• impose personal sanctions against those involved in the cruel and inhuman treatment of Tofik Abdulhaziiev and all arbitrarily detained civilians;
• introduce more effective sectoral sanctions against various sectors of the Russian economy that provide the financial basis for waging an aggressive war against Ukraine;
• impose sanctions on those economic entities from around the world that allow the aggressor state to circumvent existing restrictions;
• fully support Ukraine to guarantee the de-occupation of the territories within its internationally recognised borders.

Signatories:

• Human Rights Centre ZMINA
• Centre for Civil Liberties
• Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union
• Civic Union Human Rights House Crimea
• DIYA Human Rights Centre 
• Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners of the Kremlin
• The Crimean Human Rights Group