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Crimean journalist Amet Suleymanov has suffered a second hypertensive crisis while being held in Vladimir Central Prison, reports Crimean Solidarity, citing his wife, Lilya Lyumanova.
He is currently experiencing weakness and periodic chest pains. Lyumanova said that, as a result, he is struggling to cope with the heat.
He has also had rashes and spots appear on his body for some time.
“We still haven’t figured out what’s causing the rashes,” said Suleymanov’s wife. “They come and go, and it’s accompanied by severe itching. At the moment, the rashes aren’t present. The spots are different; for now it’s unclear whether it’s simply pigmentation or something related to his liver.”
He is also experiencing worsening vision. Last autumn, he was diagnosed with hypertensive retinopathy—a condition affecting the blood vessels of the retina, which impairs its blood supply. If left untreated, Suleymanov risks losing his eyesight.
Suleymanov suffered his first hypertensive crisis in May 2024. According to the imprisoned journalist, he constantly has high blood pressure. Recently, his wife said that Vladimir Central Prison has still failed to respond to their question on when he will receive heart valve replacement surgery.
“The prison administration says it all depends on a response from Moscow, which hasn’t arrived yet,” she said.
Last autumn, it emerged that the Crimean Ministry of Health had quietly removed Suleymanov from the waiting list for surgery back in 2021, without notifying him.
He needs a heart valve replacement due to arterial and mitral valve insufficiency. These conditions are on the list of illnesses incompatible with incarceration, but courts denied Suleymanov early release on health grounds.
In 2023, the United Nations Committee Against Torture called on Russia not to enforce Suleymanov’s sentence and to carry out a medical examination and provide the necessary treatment. The Russian authorities ignored this request.
Suleymanov has been in detention since spring 2020. In October 2021, a court sentenced him in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case to 12 years in prison: three and a half years to be served in prison, with the remainder in a strict-regime penal colony. He was found guilty of participating in the activities of a terrorist organisation (Part 2, Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code) and preparing for a violent seizure of power (Article 278 with the use of Part 1, Article 30 of the Criminal Code). Three other Crimean Tatars were convicted alongside him, receiving sentences ranging from 13 to 17 years.