Freedom House calls for release of Crimean Tatar citizen journalist Server Mustafayev
Freedom House has called on Russia to release Crimean Tatar human rights defender and citizen journalist Server Mustafayev, whom an occupation court sentenced to 14 years in prison in a terrorism case, reported former Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova, who currently heads the supervisory board of Ukraine House in Washington. She published a joint photo with Freedom House chief executive Jamie Fly and spoke about their years-long cooperation to free Ukrainian political prisoners, including Vladyslav Yesypenko, Nariman Dzhelyal and Maksym Butkevych.
Defendants in the second Bakhchysarai Hizb ut-Tahrir case, Server Mustafayev in the center of the frame. Photo: GratyFreedom House called for the release of Mustafayev and all other people unlawfully detained by Russia on political grounds.
Server Mustafayev is the coordinator of the Crimean Solidarity civic movement, which assisted the families of political prisoners in Crimea until it announced in July 2026 that it would cease its activities. From 2014, he documented human rights violations on the peninsula and covered politically motivated trials. On 21 May 2018, officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) detained Mustafayev in Bakhchysarai in the so-called “Hizb ut-Tahrir” case. Other Crimean Tatars were prosecuted alongside him as part of this case. The Russian occupying authorities accused them of involvement in the activities of an organisation banned in Russia.
On 16 September 2020, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced defendants in the so-called second Bakhchysarai case. Those involved were sentenced to terms ranging from 13 to 19 years in prison. Mustafayev was sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony. On 14 March 2022, Russia’s military court of appeal upheld the verdict. In total, more than 45 court hearings were held in the case.
Mustafayev’s health has deteriorated while in detention. As ZMINA reported earlier, his spine problems have worsened, he suffers from neck and head pain, and his eyesight has deteriorated. He has also developed psoriasis, accompanied by itching and dry skin.
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.
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.
Related: 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 recognised 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 recognise Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
In April 2023, Dunja Mijatović, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, released report, “Crimean Tatars’ struggle for human rights.” Mijatović confirmed numerous serious human rights violations, namely persecution, discrimination, and stigmatisation, by Russian occupying forces of representatives of the Crimean Tatar community and those who oppose the illegal occupation of Crimea.
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