The price of PACE capitulation to Russia: Soaring number of Crimean Tatar and other Ukrainian political prisoners
The reinstatement of Russia’s voting rights in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE] just over a year ago was supposed to ensure ‘constructive dialogue’ and protect Russian citizens. As of July 2020, Russia is holding a record number of political prisoners, with over 100 of these Ukrainian citizens, and is threatening to ‘extradite and imprison’ foreign nationals who correctly tell them that Crimea is Ukrainian. That is without considering the parts of Donbas in Eastern Ukraine where Russian-controlled and armed militants are holding well over 200 prisoners of war and civilian hostages. As if the PACE decision to withdraw sanctions despite the lack of any change in Russia’s behaviour were not enough, the Council of Europe is also continuing to collaborate with Rosfinmonitoring, a Russian state agency directly involved in political and religious persecution.
In many respects, Russia has reinstated the political repression of Soviet times, however one aspect is undoubtedly worse. At least after the death of Joseph Stalin, political dissidents and prisoners of conscience got sentences of up to 10 years. Several Ukrainian political prisoners are now serving sentences of up to 20 years without any crime and after totally flawed trials.
Since the release in September 2019 of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and a number of other political prisoners in exchange for MH17 witness and possible suspect, Vladimir Tsemakh, there has been no progress on other prisoner exchanges. Russia has, however, arrested and imprisoned at least as many new political prisoners, with the arrests occasionally eliciting words of deep concern, but little more.
There have, moreover, been the first two long prison sentences against Ukrainian Jehovah’s Witnesses: Serhiy Filatov and Artem Gerasimov, and huge sentences have been upheld against Crimean Tatar human rights activist Emir-Usein Kuku and five other Ukrainian Muslims, all of whom are recognized Amnesty International prisoners of conscience.
Russia’s FSB and Investigative Committee generally use same or very similar formats for repression multiple times. The following gives a brief account of the types of persecution, followed by a list of the political prisoners (press on them for more information).
Publicity is needed for all the Kremlin’s hostages, and any help in publicizing their persecution can help to ensure their release. In many cases, the hyperlinks provide addresses to write to. Please do not be overwhelmed by the number of prisoners. Obviously nobody can help publicize all the cases or write to all the prisoners, but any help is enormously important.
Hizb ut-Tahrir cases
By far the most frequent of such conveyor belt ‘trials’ are those against Crimean Tatar (or other Crimean) Muslims, whom the FSB accuses of ‘involvement’ in Hizb ut-Tahrir, a peaceful Muslim party which is legal in Ukraine and which is not known to have ever committed acts of terrorism or violence anywhere in the world. Russia is the only country in the world to have declared Hizb ut-Tahrir ‘terrorist’ and the renowned Memorial Human Rights Centre suspects that the Russian Supreme Court did so in 2003 solely to provide grounds for extraditing Uzbek nationals to Uzbekistan to face religious persecution.
If the first four Crimean Tatars from Sevastopol arrested on these charges in January and April 2015 were essentially persecuted for their faith, later arrests have targeted civic and human rights activists and civic journalists. After Russia’s mass arrests of 23 Crimean Tatar civic journalists and activists on 27 March 2019 provoked international condemnation, the Russian FSB slightly modified their approach. There has certainly been no let-up in repression but later ‘operations’ including that on 7 July 2020, have been more dispersed, even geographically, making it harder to keep up with the ongoing arrests and subsequent ‘trials’. These are resulting in horrific sentences of up to 19.5 years’ imprisonment in a maximum security prison. Not one of the men has been accused of any recognized ‘crime’, and the alleged ‘evidence’ of involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir is based on planted literature; highly dubious ‘secret witnesses’ and FSB-loyal ‘experts’.
‘Ukrainian saboteur’ cases
These are clearly aimed at trying to convince the local population that Ukraine poses a threat to people’s safety, one that the FSB and Russia generally, are supposedly protecting them from. In all of the cases, there are grandiose claims about purportedly thwarted crimes; grounds for believing that the men were tortured and that evidence was fabricated.
Mystery ‘spying’ charges
Punishment for Euromaidan or for opposing Russia’s annexation of Crimea
Accused of membership in Ukraine of organizations which Russia demonizes for political reasons.
In the first few years after annexation, accusations of involvement in ‘Right Sector’ were most common. One person – Oleksandr Shumkov – is still serving such a sentence, while several other men have been released after serving equally flawed sentences to the last day.
More recently, the FSB have been using charges of belonging to the Noman Çelebicihan (or Asker) Battalion, which is legal in Ukraine and which, despite the name, is not an armed formation. Although the Battalion is not, in principle, Crimean Tatar, but Crimean, Russia is targeting only Crimean Tatars and sentencing them to up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Other religious persecution
The Jehovah’s Witnesses
Tablighi Jamaat
Other Ukrainian political prisoners
‘Hizb ut-Tahrir’ conveyor belt prosecutions - fake ‘terrorism’ charges, used increasingly against civic activists and journalists
Ferat Saifullaev, Rustem Vaitov andNuri Primov were released in early 2020 after serving wrongful sentences to the end
Yalta Six - the first gratuitously violent ‘operation’ on 11 February 2016, and then arrests of two very young men on 18 April 2016.
Emir-Usein Kuku, the first human rights activist, against whom Russia used ‘Hizb ut-Tahrir’ charges, after other persecution failed to silence him. See:
“Crimea is our land. We did not give it to Russia, nor did we sell it”
See: Stalin took Crimean Tatar Dilyara Alieva’s homeland and parents; Putin’s Russia has taken her son
Bakhchysarai Four - four men arrested on 12 May 2016
Simferopol Five - five men, including two brothers, both of them lawyers and Ukrainian sports champions
See: “Mama, have they come to kill us?” Russia’s new-old terror and deportation of Crimean Tatars
Bakhchysarai ‘Crimean Solidarity’ arrests
See: My grandfather was tried on the same charges as my son
22 March 2018 Nariman Memedeminov (a civic journalist)
10 May 2018 Enver Seytosmanov
14 February 2019 ‘Krasnogvardeysk group’ - three men, including a civic activist and a 22-year-old
See: Russia uses Trial by Fake Secret Witnesses to imprison Crimean Tatars
27 March 2019 ‘Operation’ against Crimean Tatar civic activists and journalists in which 23 men were seized and almost immediately taken to Russia. Two other men – Rayim Aivazov and Eskender Suleymanov were arrested later.
Izet Abdulayev, actively attended politically motivated ‘court’ hearings
Tofik Abdulgaziev, Crimean Solidarity activist
Vladlen Abdulkadyrov. activist involved in organizing parcels of food, etc. for political prisoners
Medzhit Abdurakhmanov Crimean Solidarity activist
Bilyal Adilov religious figure who also actively attended politically motivated ‘court’ hearings
Rayim Aivazov Crimean Solidarity activist
Enver Ametov actively attended politically motivated ‘court’ hearings
Osman Arifmemetov Crimean Solidarity civic journalist and activist
See: Bitter echoes of Stalin’s Deportation in Russia’s persecution of Crimean Tatars
Farkhod Bazarov Crimean Solidarity activist
Akim Bekirov civic activist involved in organizing parcels of food, etc. for political prisoners
Remzi Bekirov Crimean Solidarity civic journalist
Dzhemil Gafarov actively attended all politically motivated ‘court’ hearings. Gafarov has a serious kidney disorder and even according to Russian law should not be in detention.
Servet Gaziev, 15.04.1960, actively attended all politically motivated ‘court’ hearings
Riza Izetov human rights activist and Crimean Solidarity civic journalist
Alim Karimov Crimean Solidarity activist
Seiran Murtaza actively attended all politically motivated ‘court’ hearings. He has two children.
Yashar Muyedinov Crimean Solidarity activist
Erfan Osmanov actively attended all politically motivated ‘court’ hearings
Seitveli Seitabdiev Crimean Solidarity activist
Rustem Seitkhalilov Crimean Solidarity activist
Rustem Sheikhaliev Crimean Solidarity civic journalist
Eskender Suleymanov, Crimean Solidarity activist.
Ruslan Suleymanov Crimean Solidarity civic journalist and activist
Shaban Umerov Crimean Solidarity activist
Asan Yanikov civic activist involved in organizing food parcels for political prisoners.
10 June 2019 FSB “We’ll get around to shooting you all”
‘Belogorsk group’ - including a father and son
‘Alushta Group’
11 March 2020 Another wave of armed searches and arrests in Bakhchysarai, targeting civic activists or their relatives
Osman Seytumerov (the sons of renowned Crimean Tatar historian Shurki Seytumerov)
Rustem Seytmemetov (the Seytumerovs’ uncle)
Amet Suleymanov – a Crimean Solidarity activist and journalist (streaming information about arrests and political trials onto the Internet). He had recently restricted such civic activism, but only because of very serious heart problems. This is one of only two cases where death in detention was presumably deemed so likely that Suleymanov was placed under house arrest.
7 July 2020 New FSB low, with arrest of a blind man with limited mobility and many others. At least four of the men Vadim Bektemirov; Alexander Sizikov; Alim Sufianov and Emil Ziyadinov all took part in measures to help political prisoners and ensure circulation of information about such repression
Alexander Sizikov (placed under house arrest due to his severe disability, but Russia is still trying to claim that he “led a Hizb ut-Tahrir cell”)
Other religious persecution
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Tablighi Jamaat
Talyat Abdurakhmanov (suspended sentence)
Arsen Kubedinov (suspended sentence)
Seiran Mustafaev (suspended sentence)
‘Ukrainian Saboteur’ cases without any acts of sabotage or proof
Mystery ‘spying’
Valentin Vyhivsky Imprisoned since September 2014
Vasyl Vasylenko - a 53-year-old former footballer whose arrest on spying charges was announced recently, nine months after his arrest
Punishment for Euromaidan or for opposing Russia’s annexation of Crimea
Mykola Shyptur imprisoned since March 2014
Accused of membership in Ukraine of perfectly legal organizations which Russia demonizes and has banned for political reasons.
Alleged membership of the Noman Çelebicihan (or Asker) Battalion
Other Ukrainian political prisoners
Punitive psychiatry