A defendant in the “Baymak case” has gone on hunger strike due to a conflict with the remand centre administration.

62-year-old defendant in the “Baymak case” Akhmet Yakupov has gone on hunger strike at Remand Centre No. 1 in Orenburg, after he was placed in solitary confinement for nine days. This was reported by his OVD-Info lawyer, Maksim Usov, who visited him at the facility on 11 August.

Yakupov was transferred to Orenburg Remand Centre No. 1 on 1 August. There, he was denied access to his personal belongings and food, which led to a conflict with the facility administration.

As a result, on 3 August, Yakupov was placed in solitary confinement for nine days, and on 9 August he began a hunger strike in protest at this disciplinary action. On 12 August, the man from Bashkortostan is due to be released from solitary after serving his disciplinary sentence.

Additionally, the remand centre administration is preventing Yakupov from performing namaz (Muslim prayers).

Security forces detained Yakupov on 22 January 2024 at his home in the village of Aptikovo. He was charged with organising mass protests (Article 212, Part 1 of the Criminal Code) during a public gathering in support of Bashkir activist and former head of the “Bashkort” movement Fail Alsynov, who on that day was being sentenced over a speech made at another public meeting. In June, the case against Yakupov was submitted to a court in Orenburg, a major city in the southern Urals.