28 August 2026

Face of Resistance: The Story of Political Prisoner  Amet Suleymanov

Life before detention

Amet Suleymanov was born on October 25, 1984, in Uzbekistan. In 1991, his family returned to Crimea and settled in the village of Kholmivka in the Bakhchysarai district.

After finishing school, Amet enrolled in a madrasah in Simferopol. He did so well in his studies that he was offered the opportunity to continue his education in Turkiye. However, he had to give up on the trip—he was diagnosed with a serious heart condition.

Amet enrolled in a construction vocational school in Bakhchysarai and trained as a carpenter. In 2005, he married Lilia. Together they raised four children. For over ten years Amet worked as a sales manager at an MTS mobile phone store in Bakhchysarai.

But work was not the only thing that defined Amet’s life. After the start of Russian repression against the Crimean Tatars, he became involved in citizen journalism and produced reports for the Crimean Solidarity.

Amet would visit the sites of raids, document the actions of Russian security forces, and cover the detentions of Crimean Tatars and court hearings. He helped shed light on what the occupation authorities were trying to hide.

Persecution

On March 11, 2020, Russian security forces conducted a search of Amet Suleymanov’s house in Bakhchysarai and immediately detained him.

Amet was accused of allegedly participating in the activities of the organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, which Russia designated as “terrorist” and banned in 2003, and after the occupation of Ukrainian territories, illegally extended the application of its legislation to those areas.

Due to a serious heart condition, the so-called Kyiv District Court of Simferopol imposed house arrest as a pretrial measure on Amet the following day. This was the first instance in the Hizb ut-Tahrir cases in the temporarily occupied Crimea where a court had imposed such a pretrial measure.

On October 29, 2021, a Russian court in Rostov sentenced him to 12 years of imprisonment in a maximum-security penal colony. Despite serious heart problems, on April 5, 2023, Amet was taken from his home and placed in a pretrial detention center to begin serving his sentence. He was subsequently transferred from the temporarily occupied Crimea to Russia.

Behind bars

While in Russian custody, Amet Suleymanov’s health has deteriorated significantly. He suffers from serious heart conditions and requires valve replacement surgery, but he is not receiving the necessary treatment. During his imprisonment, Amet has suffered hypertensive crises, and his vision and heart function have worsened.

While Amet remains in Russian custody, his four children are growing up without their father. His wife, Lilia, continues to seek the necessary medical care and his release.

Russia must release Amet Suleymanov and all other illegally detained Ukrainian political prisoners.