The Isakogorsk district court in Arkhangelsk has rejected an application for Lenur Khalilov to be released from prison although the 58-year-old Crimean Tatar political prisoner has metastatic (stage 4) liver cancer and was too weak to even attend the hearing. The ruling on 21 October 2026 was handed down by the same court that, in August 2025, had, in full accordance with Russian regulations, ordered Khalilov’s release on the same grounds. That ruling was, however, challenged by the Russian prosecutor and now the same Russian court has confirmed that, when it comes to Crimean Tatar and other Ukrainian political prisoners, even Russia’s own legislation will be flouted
The defence insisted that Khalilov requires specialised treatment and care which the Russian prison service cannot provide. They pointed out that, after his brief release in August 2025, he had been able to undergo two course of chemotherapy with this, probably, having delayed a deterioration in his health after he was forcibly returned to the prison colony.
The rejection of Khalilov’s application is especially shocking as the oncologist at Medical Unit No. 29 who is treating Khalilov supported his release, saying that, at this stage, the only available treatment is chemotherapy which the medical unit cannot provide. He pointed out to the court that Register No. 54 of illnesses precluding detention essentially determines (or should determine) the court’s decision in this case. “Neither the seriousness of the crime, nor the article of the criminal code, neither any negative characteristics nor the lack of positive, nor penalties, nor even the lack of registration [at a particular address] constitute impediments [to release]. It is only the illness itself.”
The oncologist informed that a CT scan in April 2026 had shown the first sign that the cancer is progressing and the appearance of new metastases. A later scan on 7 October found both that the tumour is progressing and metastases in the lymph nodes and stomach. He is suffering, the oncologist said, from the symptoms typical for state 4 cancer – weakness, pain in the spine, neck, liver, heaviness in the stomach, no appetite and discomfort. He moves around the surgery ward only by wheelchair, yet the latter does not fit through the door to the toilet, and he is forced to stand, holding on to the doorframes.
At present, the oncologist explained, the level of pain is such that it can be treated with Tramadol. Later, however, he will need to be prescribed opioid analgesics.
It is evident in the appalling treatment of Lenur Khalilov, as well as that of Tofik Abdulgaziev, who is suffering from a brain tumour, and Oleksandr Sizikov, who is blind and disabled, that the directive to block their release has come ‘from higher up’. It is cheering, therefore, that the oncologist behaved so professionally, especially given the craven about-turn demonstrated by Olga Anvarovna Angold, chief medical officer at Prison tuberculosis hospital No, 3 in Chelyabinsk, in analogous blocking of Tofik Abdulgaziev’s release.
The oncologist proved to be the only person who behaved in accordance with his profession and the law, with representatives from the prison colony, the prosecutor and the ‘judge’ all trying to find excuses to justify not releasing Khalilov.
The ‘judge’s’ arguments largely parroted those used by prosecutor N.S. Ryazanov in challenging Khalilov’s fully justified and legal release. They are especially disgraceful given that Lenur Khalilov is a recognized political prisoner whose release has been demanded by international structures, human rights organizations and democratic states. The claim made in the court’s ‘justification’ that releasing Khalilov would “allow the convicted man to avoid liability for committing particularly harsh crimes …. and could lead to him committing crimes in the future” is simply monstrous. There were no crimes, with Lenur Khalilov serving an 18-year sentence for religious independence and, possibly, because he obstructed the Russian occupation regime’s illegal seizure of a beautiful mosque in Alushta.
In short, Lenur Khalilov (b. 8 December 1967) should never have been imprisoned at all. While the current Russian regime could be expected to deny that, the oncologist was quite right that, given Khalilov’s diagnosis, his release should have been virtually automatic once a medical examination found not only chronic hepatitis C; high blood pressure; cysts in the liver and one kidney and kidney stones, but also liver cancer that had already spread to lymph nodes. It was a matter of time before the cancer spread to other vital organs and immediate treatment was prescribed.
Initially everything did seem to be in accordance with the law, with the ruling passed by judge N.Y. Belaya being based solely on a qualified medical diagnosis which was very easily checked against the List of illnesses precluding imprisonment, passed by Government resolution no. 54 from 6 February 2004. The judge, therefore, rightly concluded that Khalilov “cannot be held in a prison institution in general conditions and needs treatment in a specialized institution”.
Lenur Khalilov was released from custody a few days later and returned to a huge welcome back home in Crimea. The respite, and Russia’s compliance with its own legislation, provided fleeting. By 14 October 2025, Khalilov was back in custody, with the Russian prosecutor N.S. Ryazanov having successfully challenged his release at the Arkhangelsk regional court at the beginning of September (details here).
12-18-year sentences for religious independence and human rights activism
Four Crimean Tatars from around Alushta were arrested on 10 June 2019. after armed ‘searches’ which made no pretence of looking for anything but ‘prohibited religious literature’. Lenur Khalilov; Ruslan Mesutov (b. 1965); Ruslan Nagayev, (b. 1964); and Eldar Kantimirov (b. 1980) were sentenced to 18, 18, 13 and 12 years, respectively.
Although in most aspects one of Russia’s most notorious conveyor belt ‘trials’ where long sentences are guaranteed from the moment the armed searches begin, there was one specific detail. Lenur Khalilov was imam and head of the independent ‘Alushta’ religious community which the occupation regime was trying to crush, while Ruslan Mesutov was an active member of the community, as was another political prisoner and Amnesty International prisoner of conscience Muslim Aliev. The arrests on 10 June 2019 came just two weeks before the Alushta community’s legal challenge against the occupation regime’s seizure of the 19th century Yukhary-Dzhami Mosque which the community has legally occupied since 1994. Ruslan Nagayev was probably also targeted for his ‘religious dissidence’, while Eldar Kantemirov’s had actively defended political prisoners, with this, in occupied Crimea, enough to have the FSB come for you.
The men were accused only of unproven involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir , a peaceful transnational Muslim organization which is legal in Ukraine. Russia became the first country in the world (joined in 2016 by Uzbekistan) to declare Hizb ut-Tahrir ‘terrorist in a 2003 Supreme Court ruling passed behind closed doors. with neither Hizb ut-Tahrir members, nor human rights NGOs given a chance to make submissions. No adequate explanation has ever been provided for labelling as ‘terrorist’ an organization which is not known to have committed, or even threatened, acts of terrorism or violence in Russia or anywhere else in the world.
Lenur Khalilov and Ruslan Mesutov were charged with the more serious ‘organizer’ role under Article 205.5 § 1 of Russia’s criminal code; Eldar Kantimirov and Ruslan Nagayev with ‘involvement in such an alleged ‘group’ (Article 205.5 § 2). All four men were also charged, under Article 278, with ‘planning to violently seize power’. The prosecution explained this truly surreal charge by claiming that the four men, as supposed members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, were planning a state coup via ‘“the total Islamization of the population”.
Just as there was no recognizable crime, there was no real evidence, only fake assessments’ by FSB-loyal ‘experts’ and so-called ‘secret witnesses’ who may well Such ‘evidence’, it should be stressed, is only of alleged involvement in a peaceful movement which is legal in Ukraine.
The ‘trial’ took place at the Southern District Military Court in Rostov (Russia) under presiding judge Roman Viktorovich Saprunov, together with Maxim Mikhailovich Nikitin and Rizvan Abdullayevich Zubairov, Like prosecutor Yevgeny Kolpikov, they had taken part in other such political ‘trials’, and provided the monstrous sentences demanded of them on 16 August 2021. The 18-year sentences against Khalilov and Mesutov; 13-year sentence against Nagayev and that of 12 years against Kantemirov – were all in the harshest of Russia’s appalling penal institution, with the first two years in a prison, the very worst, and then in harsh-regime or maximum-security prison colonies, which are all thousands of kilometres from the men’s homes and families in Crimea.
The sentences were all upheld on 14 August 2022 by the Vlasikha military court of appeal.
