Russia is illicitly transferring Crimean political prisoners to the country’s remote areas

Human rights activists have documented cases of Russia’s disregard for International Humanitarian Law norms, subjecting Crimean political prisoners to penal transportation to Krasnoyarsk Krai, Bashkortostan, North Caucasus, the Urals, and Chelyabinsk Oblast.

Yevhenii Yaroshenko, CrimeaSOS NGO analyst made this statement during an event at BrainHub, the country’s main discussion platform at Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

“The International Humanitarian Law rules incur those, captured under the authority of an adverse party for acts committed, being prosecuted, convicted, and serving prison time in the occupied territory. However, that is not the case for Crimea as Russia is blatantly violating International Humanitarian Law and taking prisoners country’s remote corners, places such as Salavat in Bashkortostan, the North Caucasus, and the Ural Mountains area. Recently, there have been cases detected reporting political prisoners have been transferred to regions of Chelyabinsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai. For example, the Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Nariman Dzhelial was sent to a penal colony in Siberia, in the city of Minusinsk in Krasnoyarsk Krai late last year,” he noted.

According to him, it’s a serious challenging problem the prisoners’ families face. Visiting incarcerated family members locked up over thousands of miles is very costly and time-consuming. In addition, the human rights activist noted, the billing that lawyers charge for the services is also quite troublesome, as not all lawyers in Crimea, due to financial constraints and when handling other political trials, are able to travel to Russia remote places for in-person visits to their clients. Therefore, he added, families are forced to seek local legal help in new areas.

BrainHub is the country’s main discussion platform created by the Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform. It brings together experts from the state and civil society sectors. BrainHub hosts intellectual discussions around the issues of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. It’s the birthplace of the best ideas that will become the foundation for the road map of Ukraine’s reconstruction in all sectors: economy, infrastructure, education, agriculture, security, digital, etc.

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