66-year-old Crimean Tatar Zekirya Muratov, a former music teacher, was transferred from the Balashov prison in the Saratov region to maximum security colony No. 5 in Nizhny Novgorod. He is a disabled person of the 3rd group.
The political prisoner has high blood pressure, a heart defect, numbness in his left leg, and muscle atrophy. In the summer of 2021, Muratov fell ill with COVID-19 in a pre-trial detention center. He was taken to the prison hospital in serious condition and diagnosed with double pneumonia. In total, Muratov was in the ward for 48 days, but, despite serious health problems, the court kept him in custody.
Previously, Zekirya Muratov was found guilty of participating in the Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir, recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation, and sentenced to 11 years. According to human rights activists, party members are being persecuted not for preparing a coup and terrorism, but for public actions against political repression in Crimea and criticism of the Russian authorities.
