Unending torture of Crimean Tatar political prisoner for refusal to collaborate with Russia’s FSB

Even in the prison hospital that Teymur Abdullayev has been placed in, he is being held in a ‘punishment cell’.  The pretexts for such ‘punishments’ are as fabricated as the charges that Russia has used to imprison the recognized Crimean Tatar political prisoner.  The conditions in the punishment cells, or ‘SHIZO’, which Abdullayev is constantly held in are tantamount to torture and are very likely the reason for his suspected tuberculosis.

According to lawyer Edem Semedlyaev, Abdullayev was admitted to the prison hospital on 9 December.  The results are now awaited of tests taken however an x-ray did not show any change to the lungs.  It is quite unclear on what grounds Abdullayev should have been placed in a punishment cell as soon as he arrived at the prison hospital, or whether this alleged ‘punishment’ is likely to be extended.  Teymur’s family have told Crimean Solidarity that they believe his medical issues are directly linked with the extraordinary amount of time he is being held in SHIZO.

Abdullayev’s lawyer, Emil Kurbedinov reported back in March 2021 that his client was receiving especially bad treatment because he had rejected attempts by the Russian FSB to collaborate with them, and that the FSB had virtually admitted this.  The ‘collaboration’ in question was to provide false testimony against others like himself, arrested and imprisoned without being accused of any recognizable crime.  

Abdullayev only arrived at the harsh-regime prison colony in Salavat (Bashkorstan) in March 2020 and spent virtually the entire following year in the SHIZO.   This means solitary confinement in a small cell where the bunk bed is only lowered for several hours from late at night, and raised by about 4-5 a.m. For most hours in the day, he can only stand or sit on a very uncomfortable wooden stool.

Most incredibly, even when Abdullayev became ill with covid in November 2020, had a high temperature and other typical symptoms, he was once again placed in a punishment cell, rather than the medical unit.  This was probably the reason for the medical complications he experienced in June 2021.  At the time, his mother, who is a doctor, said that she suspected that her son was suffering from inflammatory cardiomyopathy, or an inflammation of the heart muscle.  Although the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [OHCHR] was supposed to be monitoring the situation from March 2020, this means little when the prison staff invariably claim that everything is fine and even prison doctors are unlikely to provide a real medical assessment.

Teymur Abdullayev and his brother Uzeir Abdullayev, Emil Dzemadenov; Rustem Ismailov and Aider Saledinov have been imprisoned since 12 October 2016.  All were soon recognized as political prisoners by the Memorial Human Rights Centre and their release has been demanded in countless UN, OSCE, European Parliament and other resolutions.  As well as pointing to the gravely flawed charges against the men, Memorial pointed out that Russia, as an occupying state, was in breach of international law by applying its own repressive legislation on occupied territory.  This is especially shocking as the men were all accused only of involvement in the Hizb ut-Tahrir party, a peaceful transnational Muslim organization, which is legal in Ukraine. Russia’s Supreme Court ruling in 2003, declaring Hizb ut-Tahrir ‘terrorist’, was almost certainly taken to enable Russia to deport Muslims back to Uzbekistan where they faced religious persecution.

Teymur and Uzeir Abdullayev are the grandsons of a well-known linguist and member of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences.  Dilyara Abdullayeva brought them up alone, after their father died when they were very young.  Both men trained as lawyers, however became professionally involved in martial arts (taekwondo, judo and karate) with Uzeir both Ukrainian and European champion in taekwondo. 

The arrests of the five men from Stroganovka (near Simferopol) on 12 October 2016 were the fourth ‘operation’ under Russian occupation where armed and masked men burst into homes, seized law-abiding men and left their young children deeply traumatized.  One of Teymur Abdullayev’s nieces asked her mother whether the men brandishing machine guns were going to kill them.  For the children that was almost the last time that they saw their fathers.

In all such cases, the FSB designates at least one person as the ‘organizer’ of a Hizb ut-Tahrir group (under Article 205.5 § 1 of the Russian criminal code), while the others are changed with ‘involvement’ in the ‘cell’ (Article 205.5 § 2) . The choice of designated ‘organizer’ seems arbitrary, but the difference in sentence is significant. On 18 June 2019, Teymur Abdullayev (b. 1975) was sentenced to 17 years’  Uzeir Abdullayev (b. 1974) was sentenced to 13 years; Rustem Ismailov (b. 1984) – 14 years; and Emil Dzemadenov (b, 1980) and Aider Saledinov (b. 1987) to 12 years. Three of the lower sentences were actually one year higher than those asked for by the prosecutor.  Two of the three judges in this case, Anatoly Kolesnik (presiding judge); Igor Kostin and Edward Korobenko, had already taken part in at least one other such ‘trial’ . On 24 December 2019, Russia’s Supreme Court made virtually no pretence of considering the appeal and upheld the men’s convictions, merely reducing each sentence by six months.

Please write to Teymur and Uzeir Abdullaev; Emil Dzhemadenov; Rustem Ismailov and Aider Saledinov!

The letters tell them they are not forgotten and show Moscow that their actions are being followed. Letters need to be in Russian, and on ‘safe’ subjects.  If that is a problem, use the example letter below (copying it by hand, typed letters will also not pass the censor), perhaps adding a picture or photo.  

Example letter

Привет,

Желаю Вам здоровья, мужества и терпения, надеюсь на скорое освобождение. Простите, что мало пишу – мне трудно писать по-русски, но мы все о Вас помним.

[Hi.  I wish you good health, courage and patience and hope that you will soon be released.  I’m sorry that this letter is short – it’s hard for me to write in Russian., but you are not forgotten. ] 

Addresses

Teymur Abdullayev

ФКУ ИК-2 ГУФСИН России по Республике Башкортостан, 453256, Россия, Республика Башкортостан, г. Салават, станция Южный

Абдуллаеву Теймуру Рза оглы 1975 г.р.

[In English:  Russian Federation, 453256, Bashkortostan, Salavat, Stantsiya Yuzhny, Prison No. 2

Abdullayev, Teymur Rza ogly, b. 1975]

Uzeir Abdullayev

ФКУ ИК-16 ГУФСИН России по Республике Башкортостан, 453256, Россия, Республика Башкортостан, г. Салават

Абдуллаеву Узеиру Рза оглы 1974 г.р.

[In English:  Russian Federation, 453256, Bashkortostan, Salavat, Prison No. 16

Abdullayev, Uzeir Rza ogly, b. 1974]

Emil Dzhemadenov

ФКУ ИК-16 ГУФСИН России по Республике Башкортостан, 453256, Россия, Республика Башкортостан, г. Салават

Джемаденову, Эмилю Эндеровичу, 1980 г.р.

[In English:  Russian Federation, 453256, Bashkortostan, Salavat, Prison No. 16

Dzhemadenov, Emil Enderovych, b. 1980]

Rustem Ismailov

ФКУ ИК-2 ГУФСИН России по Республике Башкортостан, 453256, Россия, Республика Башкортостан, г. Салават, станция Южный

Исмаилову Рустему Якубовичу 1984 г.р.

[In English:  Russian Federation, 453256, Bashkortostan, Salavat, Stantsiya Yuzhny, Prison No. 2

Ismailov, Rustem Yakubovych, b. 1984]

Aider Saledinov

ФКУ ИК-2 ГУФСИН России по Республике Башкортостан, 453256, Россия, Республика Башкортостан, г. Салават, станция Южный

Салединову Айдеру Диляверовичу 1987 г.р.

[In English:  Russian Federation, 453256, Bashkortostan, Salavat, Stantsiya Yuzhny, Prison No. 2

Saledinov, Aider Dilyaverovych, b. 1987