A defendant in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case has been placed under strict detention conditions in a colony in Murmansk, a major city in Russia’s Arctic northwest.

Timur Yalkabov, aged 44 and a defendant in the case against the third Simferopol group of Hizb ut-Tahrir, has been placed under strict detention conditions at Penal Colony No. 17 in Murmansk, a major city in Russia’s Arctic northwest. This was reported by Crimean Solidarity, citing his wife Aliye Yalkabova.

According to her, her husband was placed under a special regime because he did not work at the Dimitrovgrad prison, where he had been held from the end of 2022 until his transfer to the colony in late spring this year.

Aliye Yalkabova also said that he has run out of asthma inhalers.

“Before the transfer, I sent him a parcel with five inhalers of each of two types. [Previously] that would have lasted him six months. [Now] he used them up in just one and a half months,” said the wife of the Crimean Tatar man.

Because of his bronchial asthma, Timur Yalkabov has a category III disability. Back in November 2021, it was reported that his health had worsened while he was in pre-trial detention, with Yalkabov suffering from asthma attacks.

From February to May 2023, the man was held in punitive confinement (SHIZO) in the Dimitrovgrad prison for three consecutive months on spurious grounds. During this time, his psoriasis worsened, he developed knee problems, and he also lost 25 kilograms.

In November 2023, Yalkabov’s wife reported that in prison he was shaved bald and forced to wash his head with cold water, despite this being contraindicated because of his asthma.

• In March 2022, the Southern District Military Court sentenced the Crimean Tatar man to 17 years in prison, with an additional restriction of freedom for one and a half years after release. He has already served the first four years in prison. The remaining term must be served in a strict regime colony.
• Yalkabov was convicted under criminal charges of organising the activities of a terrorist organisation (Part 1 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code) and preparing for the violent overthrow of the government (Article 278 of the Criminal Code, combined with Article 30 of the Criminal Code). The court found him guilty due to his connection with the Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is classified as a “terrorist organisation” in Russia.