Crimean Tatar political prisoner operated on after heart attack in prison
After a myocardial infarction occurred in the prison of Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region, Crimean Tatar Rustem Seitmemetov was operated on in a local hospital. He lost consciousness after being quarantined in a cold cell.
Previously, Rustem Seitmemetov was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes. He needs an operation, but it is impossible to carry it out in prison. In addition, the prisoner's blood pressure dropped. The man was called to a doctor several times, who provided only symptomatic care.
Rustem Seitmemetov was detained in March 2020 in Bakhchisaray. He, like hundreds of other Crimean Tatars, was accused of participating in the Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, banned in the Russian Federation. According to investigators, the defendants were preparing “a violent seizure of power through the total Islamization of the population.”
There is not a single piece of evidence in the case file that the accused had a weapon, planned to commit a terrorist attack and encouraged others to do so. The accusation is based on audio recordings of discussions of politics and religion in mosques in Bakhchisarai. For this, the man was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
