NGO: 38 Crimean political prisoners in critical health condition

At least 38 Crimean political prisoners jailed by Russia are in critical health condition, the human rights group CrimeaSOS wrote on May 25.

This is caused by the inhumane conditions of their imprisonment, the group claimed.

Some of the prisoners contracted diseases in jail, while others suffer from deteriorating chronic illnesses.

According to the report, 30 people in this group are over the age of 50.

According to Ukraine’s Ombudsman Dmytro Lubients, there are 180 political prisoners, including 116 Crimean Tatars, illegally held in Russian-occupied Crimea alone. Some prisoners are jailed in Russia.

On May 24, a military court in Moscow rejected an appeal of the 60-year-old activist Azamat Eiupov, sentenced to 17 years in a penal colony in July 2022, another human rights group Crimean Solidarity wrote.

Eiupov suffers from atherosclerosis, a cardiovascular disease that increases the likelihood of a stroke or a heart attack.

In February, two Crimean political prisoners died due to a lack of proper medical care.

Russia has been persecuting Crimeans with a pro-Ukrainian position since the occupation of the peninsula in 2014. Crimean Tatars became the main target of the campaign, with some getting tortured, kidnapped, and jailed by Russian occupying authorities.

Who does Crimea really belong to?

Russia’s war against Ukraine began in Crimea. In February 2014, as the pro-Russian regime in Kyiv was killing protesters on the barricades of the EuroMaidan Revolution, thousands of Russian troops without insignia began occupying strategic locations and military bases in the Crimean Peninsula. Wit…

The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell