Photo: Crimean Solidarity 

Dzhemil Gafarov, a 60-year-old political prisoner, died in a Russian pre-trial detention center.

"Today we received sad news - a 60-year-old political prisoner, a prisoner of the Kremlin, Dzhemil Gafarov, who was previously sentenced by Russian courts to 13 years of imprisonment, died in the Novocherkassk pre-trial detention center (Russia)," Mejlis Chairman Refat Chubarov posted on his Facebook page.

In 2019, the occupiers came to Dzhemil Gafarov's house, ransacked the house, and forcibly took the owner, and eventually accused him of terrorist activities and preparation for the seizure of power. A month ago, after almost 4 years of illegal detention of the man in the Russian pre-trial detention center, he and four other participants in the so-called "second Simferopol Hizb Ut-Tahrir case" Servet Gaziyev, Alim Karimov, Seyran Murtaza, and Erfan Osmanov were sentenced to 13 years in prison.

After the criminal verdict, Dzhemil Gafarov's health deteriorated sharply.

"In 2017, he suffered a massive myocardial infarction. In the same year, he was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure with impaired kidney filtration. The political prisoner needed regular kidney dialysis, which was impossible to carry out in the conditions of the pre-trial detention center...". "He could hardly stand up, he complained of burning pain in his chest - he needed emergency hospitalization with an examination, but he did not receive it and left this world," "Crimean Solidarity" reports.

Photo: Crimean Solidarity 

Earlier, Gafarov's lawyer Rifat Yakhin emphasized that detention in a pre-trial detention center is dangerous for his client’s life.

The representative office of the President of Ukraine in the Republic of Crimea recalled that this is the second death of a Crimean political prisoner in a month. On February 7, 61-year-old Konstantin Shiring, accused by the occupiers of espionage, died in Russian captivity without receiving medical help.

"We draw the attention of the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine and the prosecutor's office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the violation of the fundamental rights of a citizen of Ukraine! We call on international partners to resolutely condemn the actions of the Russian Federation, increase political and diplomatic pressure, and demand the immediate release of all political prisoners," the agency stated.