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A criminal case has been opened against Crimean resident Tofik Abdulgaziev for contempt of court (Part 2, Article 297 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by Crimean Solidarity.

On 17 April, the Metallurgical District Court of Chelyabinsk considered a petition for his release on health grounds. Lawyer Emil Kurbedinov said the judge recused herself and filed a complaint against Abdulgaziev. According to the lawyer, at the previous hearing the defendant “expressed his views in a harsh manner.” No other details were provided.

Later that day, the Investigative Committee announced that a case had been initiated against Abdulgaziev.

The question of releasing the Crimean resident due to his health will now be considered by another judge.

Back in March, Abdulgaziev’s wife said the judge had removed her husband from a hearing held on 27 February, citing “improper behaviour towards the judicial panel.”

“This was a complete shock to me. Knowing Tofik, such behaviour is not something I would associate with him,” the woman said.

She explained her husband’s reaction by saying that the day before the hearing, he had been deceived by a panel of doctors in the prison hospital—a fact he learned only during the court session. The doctors were supposed to provide an assessment of his health. According to Abdulgaziev, he was made to sign documents without being allowed to read them. Due to serious vision problems, he could not read them himself, and the head of the medical unit, Olga Angold, refused to read the text aloud, just saying: “Sign now, you’ll find out later.”

“Only in court did he learn what was in those documents. It turned out they stated that, according to the doctors at the prison hospital, Tofik Abdulgaziev was in perfect health, and he raised no objections or complaints regarding being transferred back from hospital to the prison colony. The date and the convict’s signature,” his wife recounted. She noted that FSB officers were present at the doctors’ meeting.

Abdulgaziev began to lose his vision in October 2025. In December, a tumour was found in his brain. It turned out to be malignant—he needs surgery. In the following months, he began to lose consciousness and struggled with coordination problems.

In March 2024, the Crimean resident was transferred to a prison hospital in critical condition. His relatives reported that Abdulgaziev was emaciated at that time, had lost mobility in his legs, and suffered from hallucinations. At the hospital he was diagnosed with several conditions, including severe tuberculosis, anaemia, chronic heart failure, gastritis, and kidney stones.

He has previously tried to secure release on health grounds, but the court refused.

  • Abdulgaziev has been in detention since March 2019. He was arrested on charges of involvement with the Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir (which Russia designates as terrorist) as well as planning to seize power. In Ukraine, the party does not have this status, and before the peninsula’s occupation, its members were not persecuted.
  • In May 2022, the court sentenced Abdulgaziev to 12 years in prison, the first five to be served in prison and the remainder in a strict-regime colony.
  • The Crimean resident has four children. Before his arrest, he was an activist with Crimean Solidarity, attending the trials of other Crimean Tatars prosecuted for political reasons, sending them care packages, and organising events for the children of political prisoners.