Ukrainian authorities should thoroughly investigate cases of Kremlin prisoners in critical health condition who are left without medical treatment in Crimea. This was said by Ms.Iryna Siedova, a CHRG expert, during the press-conference in Kyiv where the human rights defenders presented a list of political prisoners who needed treatment.
It was informed that the human rights defenders demonstrated the “list of Hafarov-Shyrinh” (who died this February in the Russian prisons). This list includes names of Teymur Abdullayev, Arsen Abhayirov, Servet Gaziyev, Iryna Danylovych, Nariman Dzhelial, Volodymyr Dudka, Azamat Eyupov, Timur Ibrahimov, Igor Kiyashko, Emir-Useyin Kuku, Khalil Mambetov, Rustem Murasov, Zekirya Muratov, Ruslan Nagayev, Envyer Omerov, Oleh Prykhodko, Amet Suleymanov, Shaban Umyerov, Rustem Sheikhaliyev, Yashar Shykhametov, Ivan Yatskin.
Ms.Iryna Siedova, a Crimean Human Right Group expert, voiced recommendations for the authorities, including:
- To ensure a full and thorough investigation of such crimes since leaving a person who needs urgent medical aid without treatment in the deprivation of liberty sites is tantamount to torture.
- To take actions for bringing all those guilty of these crimes to justice and being personally sanctioned at the international level.
- To create an effective mechanism for returning civilians from captivity, including Crimean political prisoners, and promote the fastest possible release of those in critical condition.
- To achieve the efficient activity of international independent monitoring human rights missions in the occupied territories or to establish a new effective international mechanism for streamlining this activity, with international consultations to be urgently held for this purpose.
- To involve international humanitarian organizations into active negotiations with the Russian side to release political prisoners who urgently need treatment from deprivation of liberty sites.
- To support Ukrainian public organizations supporting now political prisoners in Crimea in every possible way.
- To initiate a dedicated activity aspect which actors will deal specifically with the liberation of civilian hostages from captivity.
- To develop a national program of physical and psychological rehabilitation for the political prisoners with health problems who have succeeded in recovering their liberty from the Russian captivity as well as for their family members.
- To draft and adopt the necessary by-laws to Law of Ukraine “On Social and Legal Protection of Persons Deprived of Personal Freedom as a Result of Armed Aggression against Ukraine and Members of Their Families” (https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/ laws/show/2010-20#Text) and to enforce them in full.
- To budget sufficient funds at the national level for 2024 to support civilian hostages and their family members.
The CHRG has reported that 21 Kremlin political prisoners are suffering from health issues, and Russia is not treating these people. This number includes prisoners with significant diseases and disabilities who may die in captivity without medical care. The human rights defenders called upon the Russian Federation and the occupation authorities to provide urgently medical care to these Ukrainian citizens.
