07 August 2024

Crimean Political Prisoners’ Health Deteriorates in Russian Prison

Crimean Tatar human rights defender, activist, and journalist Server Mustafaiev, who the occupiers unlawfully sentenced to 14 years of illegal imprisonment, is rapidly losing his eyesight in a prison with harsh conditions in the Tambov region of Russia. The Russian occupiers unjustifiably and illegally sentenced to 14 years in jail another seriously ill political prisoner, Tofik Abdulhaziiev; they refused to release him.

For more than six months now, Server has been in harsh conditions of detention; according to Server, he was transferred “due to the severity of the article” and unreasonably subjected to preventive detention as “prone to terrorism.” The occupiers detained Server Mustafaiev for public statements in defense of victims of political persecution and coverage of human rights violations in occupied Crimea. After 2014, when his compatriots began to face lawlessness from the occupation law enforcement agencies, Server started to help their families actively. 

Tofik’s lawyer said that the Russian “court” refused to release the political prisoner, who was diagnosed with eight serious illnesses, including a severe form of tuberculosis. The occupiers argued that the political prisoner did not need constant care and treatment in a specialized institution and that his condition was “stable.” The political prisoner’s lawyers and human rights activists demanded his release. 

In 2023, two political prisoners — Dzhemil Hafarov and Kostiantyn Shyrinh — had already died in Russian prisons due to health problems and inadequate conditions of detention.