Crimean Tatar human rights activist reports pressure from prison administration

Crimean Tatar human rights activist Riza Izetov is constantly placed in the punishment cell of IK-1 in Yakutia. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison.

A lawyer who visited the man said that his client is currently being held in a single cell-type room of 8 square meters with three other prisoners. FSIN employees are putting psychological pressure on him. Izetov is placed in strict conditions for various reasons: for example, because of a violation of the dress code or because he fell asleep during the day during an attack of hypertension. He does not have the right to call or see his family.

In the fall of 2024, the human rights activist was taken to the colony, which is located nine thousand kilometers from his home in Crimea. Izetov's mother cannot visit him because of cancer. She filed a lawsuit demanding that her son be moved closer to home.

In 2022, Riza Izetov was sentenced to 19 years. He was found guilty of organizing the activities of a terrorist organization (Part 1 of Article 205.5) and preparing for the violent seizure of power (Article 278 of the Criminal Code with the application of Part 1 of Article 30 of the Criminal Code).

According to the investigation, Izetov and other Crimean Tatars organized the activities of a cell of the terrorist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is banned in the Russian Federation, in the territory of Simferopol and the Simferopol region. In other countries of the world, it operates legally. Human rights activists note that members of the organization are sentenced to real terms on the basis that they met in apartments, read religious literature and recruited new members.

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