28 August 2026

Osman Arifmemetov marks his 41 birthday behind bars

Osman Arifmemetov was born on August 28, 1985, in Uzbekistan, where the Crimean Tatar people had been forcibly deported by the Soviet regime in 1944. When Osman was five, his family returned to Crimea and settled in Bakhchysarai.

He graduated as a mathematician, worked as a programmer and tutor, and taught children how to code. But after the occupation of Crimea, he dedicated himself to helping Crimean political prisoners and their families. 

Osman was among those who refused to let the occupation quietly run rampant. He became one of the citizen journalists for the Crimean Solidarity — he reported on illegal searches, detentions, and court hearings involving Crimean Tatars and shared information about repression on the occupied peninsula.  

On March 27, 2019, russian security forces conducted mass searches of Crimean Tatar homes. The next day, Osman was detained in the rostov region of the russian federation, where he came to cover the trials of unlawfully imprisoned Crimean Tatars.

In November 2022, a court in rostov-on-don sentenced Osman to 14 years in prison on charges of participating in the organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, which Russia designated as “terrorist” and banned in 2003, and, following the occupation of Ukrainian territories, illegally extended the application of its legislation to those areas. 

Osman is the father of two children. For over seven years, his family has been living without the chance to be with him. While in Russian captivity, he has also been experiencing serious health problems: during his time in prison in minusinsk (the russian federation), Osman lost 22 kilograms. In 2025, he was transferred to a penal colony in the orenburg region (the russian federation). 

Today, Osman is celebrating his 41st birthday in a place where he should never have ended up. 

We strongly condemn this unlawful ruling and call on the international community to respond decisively to yet another case of human rights violations in temporarily occupied Crimea, intensify political and sanctions pressure on russia, and unite efforts to put an immediate end to the politically motivated persecution of Ukrainian citizens.