Crimean Tatar political prisoner Yashar Shikhametov assigned Group III disability status

Yashar Shikhametov, a Crimean Tatar and political prisoner currently serving a sentence in a penal colony in Russia's Kemerovo region, has been assigned Group III disability status. His health is deteriorating rapidly; due to joint and spinal issues, he is barely able to move around on his own. Sources among human rights defenders in temporarily occupied Crimea reported this to *Suspilne Krym*.

He has experienced severe foot pain while walking for about five years, and for the past two or three years, he has suffered from regular knee pain and swelling. He also complains of pain in his hip joints and spine. In August 2026, a prison doctor diagnosed him with osteochondrosis.

Additionally, Shikhametov reports constant heart pain, deteriorating vision, and dental problems. He has been found to have kidney stones and an enlarged liver. The political prisoner has also been diagnosed with stage III hypertension; according to him, his blood pressure rises as high as 200 mmHg. He was previously hospitalized in a prison facility in the Saratov region due to heart, kidney, and spinal issues.

Following the formalization of his disability status, Shikhametov was supposed to be provided with a wheelchair, but he has not yet received one. Consequently, he cannot get to the dining hall or the restroom on his own; his cellmates bring him food.

Shikhametov was detained on February 17, 2021, during a series of mass raids targeting Crimean Tatars in Belogorsk, Bakhchysarai, Simferopol, Sevastopol, and other areas of the occupied peninsula. Ernest Ibragimov, Timur Yalkabov, Azamat Eyupov, Oleg Fedorov, and Lenur Sedametov were detained alongside him. Russian security forces accused them of participating in the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an organization banned in the Russian Federation.

In September 2022, the Southern District Military Court sentenced Shikhametov to 11 years in prison. He is required to serve the first four years under a stricter detention regime. The sentence was subsequently upheld by both appellate and cassation courts.

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