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57-year-old Crimean Tatar Edem Smailov has been denied medical assistance for nearly a year in IK-1 penal colony in Kostroma. This was reported by “Crimean Solidarity,” citing the prisoner’s wife, Lilya Smailova.

He was transferred to this colony in January. At that time, the Crimean Tatar filed a request for a dentist consultation, but still has not received a response. Edem told his wife: “I have already pulled out some teeth with my own hand. I have almost nothing left to chew food with.”

In IK-7 in Kostroma region in western Russia, where Smailov had been held before this, he was listed for medical observation. Edem reported having pyelonephritis, deteriorating vision, ringing in his ears, and dental problems.

Smailov was arrested in May 2018. Two years later, a court sentenced him and six other Crimean Tatars—Marlen Asanov, Memet Belyalov, Timur Ibragimov, Server Zekiryayev, Seyran Saliev, and Server Mustafayev—to between 13 and 19 years in a penal colony on charges of organising the activities of a terrorist organisation or participating in one (parts 1 and 2 of art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code), and of preparing the violent seizure of power (art. 278 of the Criminal Code with the application of part 1, art. 30). While imprisoned, Smailov has repeatedly faced pressure: he has been placed in a punishment isolation cell (SHIZO) on trumped-up charges and sent to a cell-type facility (CTP).

Before his arrest, Smailov was the head of the religious community “Topchikoy,” organised religious holidays, and made a living doing construction and renovation work.

  • The second Bakhchysarai “Hizb ut-Tahrir” case was initiated in October 2017. Most of the defendants in this case are activists of “Crimean Solidarity,” a civil movement supporting persecuted Crimean Tatars.
  • The Islamist party “Hizb ut-Tahrir” is recognised in Russia as a “terrorist organisation.” Its members are charged and sentenced to real prison terms only on the grounds that they met in flats, read religious literature, and recruited new members. According to the project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial”, the party is designated as “terrorist” in Russia unjustly. The Sova Research Centre considers that the ban was not entirely groundless, but prosecutions for involvement in this party, in the absence of accusations of other terror-related crimes, often result in disproportionately harsh sentences.