Health condition of a Crimean political prisoner Volodymyr Dudka deteriorates

The health condition of the Crimean political prisoner Volodymyr Dudka is deteriorating. Russian occupying forces do not provide him with medical care, according to Ilya Dudka, the son of Volodymyr Dudka.

Ilya shared this news with the Association of Political Prisoners of the Kremlin, a Ukrainian non-profit organization that supports family members of political prisoners held by Russia. Volodymyr Dudka was a defendant in the so-called “Ukrainian Saboteurs” case from 2016, together with two other men. He was accused of alleged preparation of sabotage in the temporarily occupied Crimea and storage of weapons based on dubious evidence.  

A photo of Volodymyr Dudka

According to Ilya Dudka, his father does not receive professional medical care despite many illnesses.

Volodymyr Dudka is 58 years old, seven of which he spent in pre-trial detention centers and colonies in the Russian Federation. The man suffers from stomach ulcers, hypertension, skin rash, prostate adenoma, and urolithiasis. 

According to his son, with so many chronic and severe illnesses, Volodymyr should have been under constant medical supervision. Currently, the political prisoner receives only dental care in the colony.

In 2021, after being transferred to the colony, Dudka developed an itchy rash with bumps, which had not gone away.

“We gave Volodymyr various medicines and ointments, but nothing helped. The doctors prescribed symptomatic treatment but did not examine him, so the disease kept coming back. They began to think that the rash was due to nerves. But there is no cure for nerves in Volodya’s [short for Volodymyr] condition. Only if he returns to Ukraine,” adds Volodymyr’s close friend Maryna Trofimenko.

According to her, Volodymyr Dudka is morally supported by letters and books sent by activists.

“Representatives of the colony say that he receives more letters than anyone else. But letters are not delivered on time. For example, Volodya has a birthday on September 30, but he received greetings only after the New Year. Also, not all books from activists reach his hands. They didn’t let him get the poems of a Chinese poet translated into Ukrainian: the censors couldn’t understand what it was about,” Marina said.

Volodymyr Dudka, Oleksiy Bessarabov, and Dmytro Shtyblikov were detained in Sevastopol on November 9, 2016. The men were accused of allegedly preparing sabotage by an organized group and possessing weapons.

A photo of Volodymyr Dudka in front of a ship called Simferopol

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) stated that the Ukrainian citizens detained in Crimea are neither their employees nor contacts.

On November 16, 2017, the Russian-controlled Sevastopol City Court sentenced Dmytro Shtyblikov to five years in a strict regime colony. He entered into a pre-trial agreement with the investigation, pleading guilty. None of the independent lawyers were allowed to see him. Human rights activists consider this evidence of pressure on him by the investigation. In November 2021, Shtyblikov received new accusations of “state treason” from Russian occupying forces. He serves 19.5 year-sentence for alleged “intelligence gathering.” 

On April 4, 2019, Volodymyr Dudka and Oleksiy Bessarabov were sentenced to 14 years. Dudka and Bessarabov completely denied their guilt. The Russian Supreme Court upheld the verdict.

According to the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, at least 181 individuals are held in custody or imprisoned on the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea or Russia.  

Based on assessments of a human rights organization Crimea SOS, 35% of political prisoners from Crimea charged with politically motivated grounds became imprisoned after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Most were accused of alleged involvement in the Islamic political organization Hizb ut-Tahrir or the volunteer Crimean Tatar battalion named after Noman Çelebicihan.