Crimean political prisoner Lenur Khalilov, who has cancer, is in critical condition

Lenur Khalilov, a cancer-stricken political prisoner and former head of the Alushta independent Muslim community who was sentenced to 18 years in prison, is in critical condition, Crimean Tatar human rights advocate and journalist Lutfiye Zudiyeva reported on 2 July, 2026.

Lenur Khalilov. Photo credit: Crimean Solidarity human rights grass-roots initiative

The Crimean Tatar suffers from liver cancer with metastases, alongside a number of other severe illnesses.

“He is literally fading away. These days, Lenur Khalilov can barely move on his own. He is transported in a wheelchair, and if he has to walk, he can only do so with the assistance of others or by leaning on surrounding objects,” she wrote.

More than two months ago, Khalilov was transferred from a penal colony to a regional hospital run by Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service in the Arkhangelsk Region (Oblast). However, the prescribed treatment has yielded no results, failing to halt the progression of the disease or alleviate his pain.

The prisoner is attempting to secure a compassionate release on medical grounds, but so far, there has been no positive outcome.

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“During every phone call, his wife, Umida Khudoyberdieva, begs for help and holds onto hope that a humane and legal solution will be found. One such solution could be a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, which would allow Lenur Khalilov to receive the necessary medical care and sustain his life,” Zudiyeva wrote.

Another legal option remains a court-ordered medical release, though his relatives are increasingly losing hope for such an outcome, the human rights advocate emphasised.

On June 10, 2019, following a series of searches in the Alushta area, Russian security forces detained acting imam Ruslan Nahayev and entrepreneur Eldar Kantymirov, alongside Alushta religious community co-founder Ruslan Mesutov and community head Lenur Khalilov.

All four are defendants in another so-called Hizb ut-Tahrir case.

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.

On August 16, 2021, the Southern District Military Court in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don handed down its verdict: Nahayev and Kantymirov were sentenced to 13 and 12 years in prison, respectively, while Khalilov and Mesutov were sentenced to 18 years. Russian authorities convicted the latter two as “organisers of a terrorist cell,” while Nahayev and Kantymirov were convicted as members.

On August 21, 2025, it was reported that Khalilov had been released from serving his sentence due to his illness. Shortly after, he returned to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

Lenur Khalilov, after arriving in temporarily occupied Crimea. Photo credit: Crimean Solidarity

However, on October 14, a Russian court ordered Khalilov to be taken back into custody. The Russian prosecutor had appealed the previous decision, arguing that the court’s reliance on a medical board’s conclusion, which stated Khalilov could not be held in a standard penal facility, “does not indicate an unconditional need for release from serving the sentence.”

As defence attorney Emil Kurbedinov emphasised, the prosecutor’s primary argument in court was that Lenur Khalilov is a “particularly dangerous criminal” and that “the court failed to take this into account.”

Furthermore, according to the attorney, current Russian legislation “does not stipulate—in addition to the presence of an illness—the inability to treat him in the penal colony.” Yet, the prosecutor specifically cited this condition in his motion. The defense has filed an appeal against the Arkhangelsk Regional Court’s decision.

Despite these efforts, Khalilov was returned to Penal Colony No. 1 in Arkhangelsk in December 2025.

In May 2026, it was reported that Khalilov had been in the FSIN regional hospital in the Arkhangelsk region for a second month without receiving proper treatment.

ZMINA previously reported that in Russian-occupied Crimea’s Bakhchysarai district, “police” conducted a raid overnight on Oct. 23, 2025, detaining visually impaired Crimean political prisoner Oleksandr Sizikov to return him to prison to serve an unlawful sentence.

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