Journalist Amet Suleymanov, sentenced to 12 years, is not being released from prison No. 2 in the Vladimir region for health reasons. He needs to have his heart valve replaced and is also suffering from shortness of breath, pain in the lung, swelling of the legs and high blood pressure, said defense attorney Lilya Gemedzhi.

“Over the year, Amet’s condition has deteriorated significantly. His two diseases correspond to items 41 and 42 in the list, which provide for exemption from punishment. However, a representative of the medical and sanitary department of the Federal Penitentiary Service referred to the fact that the degree of the disease was not severe enough,” shared Lilya Gemedzhi.

In 2019, the Southern District Military Court, despite numerous statements from the defense about Suleymanov’s health, sentenced him to 12 years in a maximum security colony in the case of participation in the Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir, banned in the Russian Federation. Lilya Gemedzhi considers the sentence fatal: “They sentenced him to die. For a person with such a diagnosis, imprisonment is cynicism.”