THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
A number of law enforcement organizations of Ukraine state that Remzi Bekirov, a Ukrainian citizen journalist from Crimea, is systemically casted pressure on at the remand prison 33 located in the city of Abakan (Khakasia Republic, russia). Besides, he is illegally transferred to the penal isolation facility, forbidden to communicate with family, and threatened.
They issued a statement condemning the inhuman conditions of detention of the illegally convicted journalist, the pressure on him, and demanding his release. The statement was signed by the ZMINA Human Rights Center, the Crimean Human Rights Group, the Association of Relatives of Kremlin Political Prisoners, the KRYMSOS non-governmental organization, the Center for Civil Liberties, the Civil Union House of Human Rights Crimea, the Ukrainian branch of the International PEN Club. The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) also demands the release of Remzi Bekirov.
Remzi Bekirov is a citizen journalist, an activist of Crimean Solidarity, and a correspondent for the online publication Grany.ru. He was detained on March 28, 2019, in a fabricated case of “organizing the activities of a terrorist organization.” On March 10, 2022, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Bekirov to 19 years in prison, with the first five years to be served in prison. The court also ordered him to have his freedom restricted for a year and a half after serving his sentence.
In the statement of human rights organizations, it is said that before the arrest, Remzi Bekirov covered politically motivated cases in Crimea, in particular the case of veteran of the Crimean Tatar national movement Vedzhie Kashka, the detention of Metropolitan Klyment of the Simferopol and Crimean Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and attended trials of participants in the Hizb ut-Tahrir cases. During his illegal imprisonment, he was in Simferopol pre-trial detention center, Rostov-on-Don pre-trial detention center, and Yeniseisky prison No. 2 of the Krasnoyarsk Oblast, which is located 5,000 kilometers from the Crimean peninsula. In July 2024, he was transferred to correctional colony No. 33 in Abakan, Republic of Khakassia.
The statement emphasizes that since the transfer of Remzi Bekirov to the colony in Abakan, where he arrived at the beginning of August, the institution’s administration has been systematically and unjustifiably placing him in a penal isolation facility. The political prisoner is also prohibited from writing letters to relatives and making calls. The last time he was able to contact his wife was before he arrived at the colony when he was in the transit point at Abakan Pre-trial Detention Center-1. At the same time, colony No. 33 is located 4.5 thousand kilometers from Crimea, and such distance from his native home is a violation of Remzi Bekirov‘s right to maintain family ties.
According to the practice of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the administration of places of deprivation of liberty should facilitate the communication of convicts with close relatives. Such remoteness significantly complicates the family’s access to Remzi Bekirov. In addition, the climate in the Republic of Khakassia is significantly different from that of Crimea. This becomes a serious challenge for the health of a person who has lived in the southern region all his life.
At the end of February this year, while Remzi Bekirov was still in Yeniseisky prison, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the russian federation (FSVP) refused to transfer him to a colony closer to home. According to the decisions of the ECtHR, the refusal to transfer the applicant to a prison located closer to his parent’s home constitutes a violation of Article 8 of the Convention (the right to respect for private and family life).
The participants of the statement emphasized that the russian federation, as the occupying state of part of the territory of Ukraine and a party to the international armed conflict, defiantly ignores the norms of international humanitarian law and systematically violates the human rights of Ukrainian citizens who are under the protection of the Convention on the Protection of the Civilian Population in Time of War. With politically motivated persecutions, arbitrary imprisonments, illegal courts on the territory of occupied Crimea, deportations of political prisoners to the territory of the russian federation, and ignoring their situation in places of detention, russia systematically violates its obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law person and commits war crimes.
The transfer of illegally imprisoned citizen journalist Remzi Bekirov, inhumane treatment, threats, and his almost constant stay in a detention center is a continuation of pressure and violation of human rights by officials of the russian federation.
Law enforcement organizations that signed the statement call on the russian authorities to release political prisoner Remzi Bekirov; release other political prisoners illegally held in the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea, other temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and the territory of the russian federation; stop the use of torture, inhumane treatment and systematic violations of human rights against illegally imprisoned citizens of Ukraine; stop applying the criminal legislation of the russian federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine; stop the persecution of people in the temporarily occupied territories for expressing their views, journalism, activism, and religion.
Law enforcement organizations call on the state authorities of Ukraine to send an appeal to the administration of the correctional colony with the demand to conduct an inspection and ensure the observance of the rights of Remzi Bekirov; to include the political prisoner Remzi Bekirov in the lists for exchange and actively promote the issue of his release; to ensure an effective investigation into the circumstances of illegal imprisonment and non-compliance with the standards of a fair trial regarding the citizen of Ukraine Remzi Bekirov; develop an effective mechanism for the release of arbitrarily detained civilians and advocate for their return; introduce personal sanctions against officials of the russian federation who are involved in illegal imprisonment, cruel and inhumane treatment and other violations of human rights against the citizen of Ukraine Remzi Bekirov.
Human rights organizations call on the governments of foreign countries and international organizations to: direct an appeal to the administration of the correctional colony with the demand to conduct an inspection and ensure that Remzi Bekirov‘s rights are respected; send requests to the authorized persons of the russian federation demanding the immediate release of the illegally imprisoned citizen of Ukraine Remzi Bekirov; act as a mediator in the process of releasing civilians arbitrarily detained by the russian federation; to support Ukraine in every possible way in the liberation of all temporarily occupied territories, in particular the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol; introduce personal sanctions against officials of the russian federation who are involved in the illegal imprisonment, cruel and inhumane treatment and other violations of human rights against the citizen of Ukraine Remzi Bekirov; increase diplomatic, sanction and other types of pressure on the russian federation in order to prevent new gross violations of human rights against citizens of Ukraine who are on the territory of the russian federation and the territories occupied by it; comprehensively support Ukraine to guarantee the de-occupation of territories within its internationally recognized borders.
NUJU Information Service
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