Seriously ill Crimean Tatar political prisoner sent to punitive confinement again

Crimean political prisoner Tofik Abdulgaziev has once again been placed in a punitive confinement cell for 10 days. A hearing on his motion for release due to health reasons, originally scheduled for September 22, has been postponed to October 26. The Crimean Tatar Resource Center reported this, citing the prisoner's wife, Aliye Abdulgazieva.

According to his wife, case records claim that Abdulgaziev is refusing to undergo medical examinations—specifically an ultrasound, a head X-ray, an ophthalmologist’s exam, and an ECG. She denies this, stating that the family and lawyers had been waiting for a month for the examinations that the court was supposed to arrange.

Aliye learned of her husband’s latest placement in punitive confinement from his lawyer after the latter visited him at the prison hospital.

Abdulgaziev’s condition deteriorated sharply in 2024. While in a Russian prison hospital, he was diagnosed with several serious illnesses.
Specifically, Abdulgaziev was diagnosed with glioblastoma—a malignant brain tumor—which has caused him to lose almost all his vision. In addition, he suffers from disseminated pulmonary tuberculosis, bilateral pneumonia, heart failure, and severe anemia.

Abdulgaziev is a member of the civic association "Crimean Solidarity." He was detained on March 27, 2019, during mass raids on the homes of Crimean Tatars in Crimea. The man was later convicted for his involvement with Hizb ut-Tahrir, an organization designated as terrorist in Russia.

Since January 2015, criminal cases involving participation in Hizb ut-Tahrir have been initiated on a mass scale in Crimea, which had come under Russia's de facto control. According to human rights activists, Crimean Tatars are being persecuted not for plotting a coup or engaging in terrorism, but for criticizing the Russian authorities and speaking out against repression in Crimea.

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