Convicted Crimean Tatar human rights activist continues to seek transfer to a colony closer to home

The Supreme Court of Crimea overturned the decisions of the Krasnogvardeisky District Court and the Federal Penitentiary Service, which refused to transfer the Crimean Tatar political prisoner Riza Izetov to a colony closer to home. He is being held in IK-1 in Yakutia, which is 9,000 kilometers from where his relatives live.

Earlier, the prisoner's mother, Nadiye Izetova, noted that she suffers from cancer and cannot visit her son in Yakutia. He also has no way to call home on the phone.

Riza Izetov is constantly placed in a punishment cell. The Federal Penitentiary Service employees put psychological pressure on him. The prisoner 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.

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, 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.