In May, ten political prisoners will celebrate their birthdays behind bars. We urge you to send them birthday greetings as part of the "Letters to Free Crimea" initiative by ZMINA. Human Rights Center! Your letters will also send a message to prison administrations that every citizen of Ukraine is important and that society is monitoring their detention conditions. Details for writing letters are provided at the end of this publication. 

Human rights defender Server Mustafaiev will turn 38 on May 5. Server was a founding member of the organization "Crimean Solidarity," becoming one of its coordinators. On May 21, 2018, around 7 AM, a search began at Mustafayev's house, lasting about three hours. Subsequently, Server was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment. At home, Server is awaited by his wife and four children. At the time of his unlawful arrest, his youngest child was only two months old. Mustafayev has been awarded the Order of Merit, III class, and has been granted the state scholarship named after Levko Lukyanenko. Following a complaint by the director of the human rights organization Front Line Defenders to the Russian General Prosecutor's Office regarding the lack of medical care for political prisoner Server Mustafaiev, he was scheduled for a full heart examination.

Citizen Journalist Iryna Danylovych will celebrate her 45th birthday on May 6. FSB officers abducted her on April 29, 2022, and held her in a basement without any charges or legal assistance. She was interrogated with a polygraph and subjected to psychological pressure. Later, explosives were "found" in Danylovych's bag. In July, Iryna reported being beaten and pressured by FSB officers. In December, Danylovych was sentenced to seven years in a general-regime colony and fined 50,000 rubles. Recently, the appellate court postponed the hearing on Iryna's sentence appeal to May 2, 2024, due to her poor health condition. The prisoner lost hearing in her left ear due to an illness that prison medical staff refuse to officially diagnose.

Ihor Kiiashko is a lawyer from Lubny, Poltava region, who will celebrate his 59th birthday on May 7. Russian special services detained him on April 10, 2018, in Nizhny Novgorod. He had traveled there to obtain medicine for his son, who had a weakened immune system. The city is home to a pharmaceutical plant that produces the only drug in Eastern Europe against Staphylococcus aureus. According to the FSB, Kiiashko allegedly agreed to buy copies of technical documentation for the 92N6A multifunctional radar station used in S-400 missile systems from a man named Komov. The FSB claims this information constitutes a state secret, and that Kiiashko was allegedly acting on behalf of the Security Service of Ukraine. In 2018, a court found Kiiashko guilty of espionage and sentenced him to eight years in a high-security colony.

Andrii Kolomiiets was born on May 8, 1993. This will be his sixth birthday as a Kremlin prisoner. He was accused of illegal possession of narcotics. Andrii initially confessed but later recanted, claiming he had been tortured with electric shocks. Later, an additional charge was brought against him for attempting to murder law enforcement officers, alleging that Andrii tried to "kill" two "Berkut" officers on Maidan by throwing Molotov cocktails at them. The only evidence presented by the prosecution consisted of two black-and-white photographs of burnt uniforms. Eventually, Andrii was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Aziz Akhtemov will celebrate his birthday on May 14, turning 28. Before his arrest, he worked in electrical repair. He and his brother Aisan were illegally detained by the occupiers in September 2021 in occupied Crimea. Prior to their arrest, their homes were searched, and they were taken to an unknown location where they were subjected to physical and psychological pressure. Later, the brothers were falsely accused of sabotage. This led to their sentences: Aisan Akhtemov was sentenced to 15 years, and Aziz to 13 years in prison. 

According to the occupying authorities, on August 23, 2021 (the day of the Crimea Platform summit), the accused allegedly planted an explosive device on a gas pipeline in the village of Perevalne in Simferopol district, damaging it. This supposedly resulted in the village's gas supply being interrupted. The occupiers detained the brothers for their active civic stance and their association with Nariman Dzhelyal, who participated in the Crimea Platform summit, which became the main reason for their unlawful detention. Aziz Akhtemov was forcibly transferred from Crimea to a prison in the Russian Federation, in Minusinsk.

Alim Sufianov will celebrate his 34th birthday on May 16. A Crimean Tatar, Alim did not remain indifferent to the temporary occupation of Crimea and took an active civic stance. On July 7, 2020, he was arrested during mass searches. Russia accuses Alim of being involved with the organization "Hizb ut-Tahrir," which is banned in Russia and Crimea but operates legally in Ukraine. In its political persecutions, the Russian authorities use labels like extremists, spies, and saboteurs to make the international community believe that Russia is fighting terrorists in Crimea. This is an attempt by Russia to legitimize the illegal annexation of the peninsula. On January 30, 2023, prosecutor Sergey Aydinov requested a 14-year sentence for Sufianov in a high-security colony. Alim is disabled. At home, he is awaited by his wife and minor child.

Edem Smailov will spend his 56th birthday on May 22 in a Russian colony. Edem was engaged in construction work, was the head of the "Topchik" religious community, and was actively involved in "Crimean Solidarity." Edem was detained on the same day as Server Mustafayev, on May 22, 2018, and was included in the Bakhchisaray group of the "Hizb ut-Tahrir" case. In 2020, a court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Edem Smailov to 13 years with an additional one-year restriction. The restriction includes a ban on leaving the annexed Crimea, attending events, and an obligation to report to the police for registration.

Teymur Abdullaiev, a taekwondo coach, will celebrate his 49th birthday on May 27. He was detained in 2016 during searches of the homes of Crimean Tatars who practice Islam. Abdullaiev was sentenced to 17 years in a high-security colony, but in 2019, the court reduced his term by six months. His brother, Uzeir, also received a long sentence. Their mother has reported a critical state of health for her sons due to the pressure in the colony. Teymur Abdullaiev complains of eye pain, and his vision continues to deteriorate.

Bilal Adilov was a religious figure and local imam before becoming a political prisoner. On March 27, 2019, Russian security forces conducted searches in the homes of Crimean Tatar activists. That day, 23 people were detained, including Bilal Adilov, who was accused of "participating in the activities of a terrorist organization." Two years before his arrest, Adilov was accused of using violence against a representative of the authorities based on a video that appeared in the investigators' possession. The video shows Adilov arguing with OMON officers over the search of another Crimean Tatar. This argument was qualified as an insult to a police officer, and a criminal case was initiated, but the persecution ended with a fine. In 2022, the court sentenced him to 14 years in a colony. Bilal turned 54 on April 27.

Ernes Ametov, an activist with "Crimean Solidarity," will celebrate his 39th birthday on May 30. Before his detention, he was interested in Crimean Tatar decorative and applied arts, engaging in metalworking and making copper jezve (Turkish coffee pots). On October 12, 2017, Ernes was arrested and accused of involvement with "Hizb ut-Tahrir," but he was acquitted after three years. However, in March 2022, the Military Appeals Court in Vlasikha overturned Ernes Ametov's acquittal. On December 29, 2022, he was sentenced to 11 years in a high-security colony and 1 year of restricted freedom.

Those interested can send letters as part of the "Letters to Free Crimea" initiative either to the physical address or online: Postal address (sender's expense): Center for Human Rights Information, P.O. Box V-539, Kyiv, 01001.

Email: Free.CrimeaUA@gmail.com.

Instructions for writing letters can be found at the following link: https://zmina.info/.../branczi-kremlya-yak-napysaty.../

You can find a list of political prisoners and track their current place of detention on the map at this link: https://ppu.gov.ua/political-prisoners/

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