Ruslan Suleymanov: “I am the great-grandson and grandson of those deported, the son of those born in deportation, I myself was born in deportation, and today I am deported again…”

Ruslan Suleymanov was born in the city of Kokand, Fergana Oblast, Uzbekistan, in April 1983. In 1993, he moved to Crimea with his parents and continued his studies at the Murom secondary school in the Bilohirsk District, which he graduated with a gold medal in 2000. The same year, he entered Tavriiskyi National University, named after Vernadskyi, the Faculty of Physics of Magnetic Phenomena. He graduated in 2005.

From October 2004 to January 2006, he worked as a laboratory assistant at the Tavriiskyi Ecological Institute. He worked at Zharbull LLC as a programmer, but the organization’s activities were discontinued. He tutored children in physics. He was repeatedly invited to work abroad. Ruslan refused as he considered it his duty to stay in Crimea and help the families of political prisoners who needed support, guardianship, and care. He is married and has four children.

In February 2017, Ruslan Suleymanov was detained near the house of Marlen Mustafayev and served five days of administrative arrest for allegedly participating in an unauthorized rally. On October 15, 2017, he participated in a single picket in support of the arrested Crimean Tatars and was also sentenced to an administrative fine of RUB 10,000.

On March 26, 2019, Russian border guards detained an activist at the Kalanchak administrative border, holding him for seven hours and destroying his passport. He was arrested on March 27, 2019. On March 28, he was accused of terrorism and arrested until May 15, 2019, under the decision of the Kyivskyi District Court of Simferopol.

On March 27, 2019, the most massive searches of homes of Crimean Tatars took place in the Kamiyanka and Strohanivka micro-districts of the city of Simferopol in the temporarily occupied Crimea. The investigation ended with an arrest on charges of terrorism. Later, the Southern District Military Court, composed of presiding judge Vyacheslav Korsakov, judges Denis Galkin and Igor Shendrikov, found a number of defendants guilty of terrorist activities and an attempt to seize power. 47-year-old builder Enver Ametov and 54-year-old builder Yashar Muedinov were sentenced to 13 years in a high-security prison, citizen journalists Ruslan Suleymanov, 43-year-old cook assistant Rustem Sheykhaliev and 37-year-old teacher of mathematics and computer science Osman Arifmemetov were sentenced to 14 years. The defendants have pleaded not guilty and consider the persecution to be political.

Crimean Solidarity indicates that the criminal case against Crimean Tatars is based on “evidence” gathered over several years of persecution: audio and video recordings of religious conversations that were eavesdropped by the FSB, on the testimony of hidden witnesses who cannot be identified, representatives of the special services, eyewitnesses and on the expert opinions of the Interregional Center of Expertise and Evaluation in Kazan, which has been working for the FSB for many years.

On April 17, 2019, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of Speech, Harlem Désir, condemned the arrest of citizen journalists and called for their immediate release from the Russian pre-trial detention center. On July 18, 2019, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on Russia to release all Ukrainian political prisoners, including Suleymanov. On November 6, 2019, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) recognized Crimean Tatar citizen journalists who are persecuted in Crimea, including Suleymanov, as collective laureates of the Ihor Lubchenko National Prize for the Protection of Freedom of Speech.

On February 3, 2020, the international human rights organization Freedom House called on Russia to review the sentences of Crimean Tatar journalists associated with the Crimean Solidarity human rights movement.

Ruslan Suleymanov has been recognized as a political prisoner by the Memorial human rights center (Russia).

The human rights organization Norwegian Helsinki Committee published a statement in support of citizen journalist Ruslan Suleymanov. Berit Lindeman, the Secretary General of the Committee, also gave his standalone opinion. The organization published a photo of Ruslan Suleymanov with the caption: “Father of four children, physics teacher, 14 years in prison. Ruslan was arrested and sentenced to 14 years in prison for wanting justice for Crimeans. Ruslan says that he misses his family and is looking forward to the opportunity to return and fight for his homeland.” Berit Lindeman said on Twitter that Ruslan Suleymanov had been illegally detained by Russia since 2019: “I am proud to support him. Freedom to Ruslan!”