The seriously ill Crimean Tatar Tofik Abdulgaziev has been released from the penal colony.

Crimean Solidarity activist Tofik Abdulgaziev, who was sentenced to 12 years in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case, has been released from prison on health grounds. On 29 October he returned home to Crimea, reports Krym.Realii.

The Metallurgical District Court in Chelyabinsk, a city in the Urals, made the decision to release him on 26 October. By that time, Abdulgaziev had spent seven years and seven months in detention. The decision to announce the release was only taken after he had returned to Crimea to join his family.

“In 2019, they sent a healthy, strong man behind bars. Today, a person whose health has been severely undermined over the years in detention walked free,” wrote the activist’s wife, Aliye Kurtametova.

According to her, Abdulgaziev now faces “a difficult and lengthy process of treatment and recovery.”

• Abdulgaziev was detained in March 2019 in Crimea. He was accused of participating in the activities of a terrorist organisation due to alleged involvement with the Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir, as well as of preparing to seize power by force. In May 2022 he was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.
• In March 2024, Abdulgaziev was transferred in a critical condition to an intensive care unit at a prison hospital. He was diagnosed with a severe form of tuberculosis, anaemia, chronic heart failure and other illnesses. In August the same year, the court refused to release him on health grounds.
• In autumn 2025, Abdulgaziev began to lose his eyesight, and in December he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour. Later, he began to faint and developed problems with co-ordination. In 2026, a new case was opened against him, this time for contempt of court.