Crimean Tatar political prisoner transported 4,500 km from home

Crimean Tatar activist Aziz Akhtemov, sentenced to 13 years, was transported from a prison in Krasnoyarsk Krai to the maximum security penal colony IK-10 in Altai. The transfer lasted almost two months, during which Akhtemov was held in pre-trial detention centers in Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, and Barnaul. The distance between Crimea and Altai is 4,500 km.

In 2022, brothers Asan and Aziz Akhtemov, as well as the first deputy head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Nariman Dzhelal, were sentenced to terms in a maximum security penal colony of 13 to 17 years. Investigators believe that they participated in the explosion of a gas pipeline in the village of Perevalnoye in Crimea on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services.

The defendants stated that after their arrest they were tortured with electric shocks, demanding confessions from them. They did not admit their guilt.

Lawyers said that at the appeal stage the court closed the trial to the audience, and the principles of openness and transparency were effectively ignored. During the interrogation of a secret witness, the court reminded him that he could refuse to answer certain questions from the lawyers. In addition, the defense was denied a repeat of several examinations.

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