The mother of Akhmed Balkarov, who is serving a sentence in Correctional Colony No. 4 in the Penza Region, contacted the Kabardino-Balkarian Human Rights Center. She alleged that her son was subjected to ethnic and religious discrimination by the prison administration. He was repeatedly forbidden to practice Islam.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky officially appointed Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, former Russian political prisoner Nariman Dzhelal (Dzhelyalov) as Ambassador to Turkey.
Nariman Dzhelal previously lived in Crimea. He was arrested by the Russian Federation in 2021 on suspicion of blowing up a gas pipeline in the village of Perevalnoye on the orders of Ukrainian intelligence. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison. The defendant did not admit his guilt. Two other defendants in the case - brothers Asan and Aziz Akhtemov - were sentenced to 15 and 13 years in prison, respectively.
In June 2024, Ukraine returned Nariman Dzhelal as part of the exchange process with the Russian Federation. The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people is banned on the territory of the Russian Federation as an “extremist organization.”