Honored Artist of Ukraine reads out letter from Crimean Tatar held in Russian penal colony

Ukrainian singer Tina Karol has read a letter from Appaz Kurtamet, a Crimean Tatar activist and language teacher currently held in a Russian penal colony. The video was released as part of the "Letters to Free Crimea" initiative and published on the singer's Instagram account.

Kurtamet turned 24 on August 19. He has spent four years of his life in Russian custody. Prior to his detention, the young man taught the Crimean Tatar language and engaged in volunteer work.

According to Russian investigators, Kurtamet gave 500 hryvnias to an acquaintance who allegedly served in a Ukrainian volunteer unit. On this basis, he was charged with "financing an armed formation."

Kurtamet was detained in July 2022 after traveling from Novooleksiivka (in the Henichesk district of the Kherson region) to visit relatives in Crimea. According to Refat Chubarov, head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, the young man successfully passed through the Russian checkpoint at the administrative border but subsequently lost contact with his family.

In April 2023, the Russian-controlled Kyivskyi District Court of Simferopol sentenced Kurtamet to seven years in a maximum-security penal colony. In August of the same year, the Russian Supreme Court of Crimea upheld the sentence.

Kurtamet is currently held in Penal Colony No. 6 in the Pskov region. Before that, he was detained at the "Vladimir Central" prison.

The Office of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea designates Kurtamet as an illegally detained Ukrainian citizen and calls for support for him and other Crimeans deprived of their liberty due to their pro-Ukrainian stance. As part of the "Letters to a Free Crimea" campaign, anyone interested can write words of support to prisoners, share the initiative on social media, and help draw attention to the plight of Ukrainians held in Russian custody.

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