Over 60 Crimean political prisoners need urgent medical care

Nariman Dzhelyal, the First Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People and a former political prisoner, stated this during his speech at the Second International Conference Crimea Global: Understanding Ukraine Through the South in Kyiv, as conveyed by Interfax-Ukraine.

"According to estimates by our human rights defenders, 60 of our Crimean political prisoners urgently need medical assistance, although medical issues affect every one of them. Two Crimean political prisoners, Dzhemil Gafarov and Kostiantyn Shyring, died in prison due to a lack of medical care," Dzhelyal noted.

He stated that in the temporarily occupied Crimea, 218 people are officially recognized by human rights defenders as political prisoners, including 132 Crimean Tatars. Dzhelyal added that "these are only official figures."

"The repressive policy, which has continued unabated throughout the years of occupation, has reached an extraordinary scale with the start of Russia's full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine in 2022. Today, no Ukrainian citizen in Crimea can feel safe or confident that they will be able to protect their rights and their life if needed," emphasized the First Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People.

He also highlighted that free journalism in Crimea has been destroyed, and journalists face repression.

"There are 18 unlawfully imprisoned Crimean journalists behind bars," Dzhelyal reported.

• In early November, Ukraine handed over a list of seriously ill Crimean political prisoners to Turkey.