Citizen journalist Vilen Temerianov returned to Rostov pre-trial detention centre after a month in hospital

Citizen journalist of the Crimean Solidarity grassroots initiative, Vilen Temerianov, who was unlawfully sentenced by a Russian court to 14 years in prison, has been returned to Pre-Trial Detention Centre No. 1 in Rostov-on-Don after spending a month in hospital, his wife, Elmaz Temerianova, who cited a lawyer for the Crimean Solidarity initiative, said. 

Vilen Temerianov. Source: Crimean Solidarity

Temerianov had earlier been admitted to the hospital for the removal of a growth on his shoulder. However, the operation was never carried out. During his stay, he underwent medical examinations and the necessary tests. Doctors also took a tissue sample for biochemical testing, but the results were not yet available at the time of his discharge from the hospital.

The journalist also needs to undergo a CT scan and is expected to be hospitalised again for this procedure.

Vilen Temerianov is a defendant in the so-called “first Dzhankoi Hizb ut-Tahrir case”. Following mass searches in Dzhankoi in August 2022, Russian security forces detained six Crimean Tatars, accusing them of involvement in the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

The religious party Hizb ut-Tahrir has been banned in Russia since 2003; however, it operates legally in all territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, as well as in many other countries. Russia, in violation of the Geneva Convention, applies its own criminal legislation to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

In November 2025, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Temerianov to 14 years in prison. He is to serve the first three years in prison and the remainder of his sentence in a maximum-security penal colony. One of the pieces of evidence presented by the prosecution was an audio recording from 2015 concerning prayer and fasting. The defence maintained that the conversation contained no references to terrorism or extremism, while independent experts pointed to numerous procedural violations and the possible fabrication of evidence during the investigation.

Earlier, ZMINA reported that Temerianov’s wife had learned about his hospitalisation from acquaintances, while staff at the pre-trial detention centre refused to provide any information, and the medical facility advised her to submit an official request.

In November 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Russia to release journalist Vilen Temerianov.

ZMINA has previously reported in detail on Temerianov’s case and the various stages of his persecution.

Earlier, Freedom House pointed out that following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, allegations of membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir have become a common pretext for criminal prosecutions there, and are one of many abuses of anti-extremism legislation against civic activists and others.

You may also want to read: List of imprisoned Ukrainian journalists 2025 in temporarily occupied Crimea

Crimea is internationally recognized as Ukrainian territory under temporary Russian occupation since 2014.

UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262 affirmed Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, including the Crimean Peninsula. The annexation violated the UN Charter, the Budapest Memorandum, and international law. The EU, the U.S., and most countries refuse to recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea.

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