The health of the Crimean artist, who was convicted for participating in an anti-war protest, has deteriorated in detention.

The health of 31-year-old Crimean Bogdan Ziza has deteriorated in detention. This was reported in December by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, citing the artist’s sister.

“Bogdan hasn’t seen sunlight for a year, he isn’t taken outside at all. His health has worsened, with many unexplained symptoms. Torture in the colony continues,” said Alexandra Barkova.

She added that she could not disclose details of his illness.

Barkova also described medical care in the prison as a form of torture: “When you go to have a tooth removed, they either won’t remove it, or they do, but the wrong one, and without anaesthesia. Crimean political prisoners have no choice—they just have to endure the pain.”

In May 2022, Ziza splashed yellow and blue paint on the administration building in Yevpatoria, a resort city in Crimea, and threw two Molotov cocktails—one failed to ignite, the other set part of the façade on fire. The artist was soon detained, and security forces circulated a video of his confession and apology. Later, Ziza said that he was forced to film this video under torture.

The artist was sent to a pre-trial detention centre facing charges of attempted terrorist act (Article 205, Part 1 of the Russian Criminal Code with Article 30, Part 3 applied). He was later also charged with justifying terrorism (Article 205.2, Part 2) because the protest video contained a call to oppose the war, and with vandalism (Article 214, Part 2).

In June 2023, Ziza was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment, with the first four years to be served in prison. On the eve of sentencing, he went on hunger strike, demanding he be stripped of Russian citizenship and political prisoners be released. Ziza kept up the hunger strike for 17 days and lost ten kilogrammes. After that, he reported stomach problems.

The artist is now being held in Vladimir Central Prison, in the city of Vladimir east of Moscow. In spring 2024, his sister reported that her letters were not being delivered to him, although he was receiving mail from other people. Last year, it became known that in this prison, letters sent to political prisoners can be delayed for months, and that when letters do arrive after censorship, entire pages, photographs and postcards may be missing.