Kremlin’s prisoner, journalist Remzi Bekirov, reports violations of Muslims’ rights in Russian colony

Remzi Bekirov, a Crimean Tatar journalist imprisoned by the Kremlin and sentenced to 19 years in prison, has reported violations of the rights of Muslims in Correctional Colony No. 33 in the Russian city of Abakan, as reported by human rights grass-root initiative Crimean Solidarity, citing information from a lawyer who visited the political prisoner.

Image caption: Remzi Bekirov. Source: Crimean Solidarity

From February 28 to March 30 2025, Muslims observe fasting during Ramadan. However, the colony does not allow them to eat suhoorі before dawn or iftarі after sunset, even though Muslims are required to consume food only during these periods.

Khalide Bekirova, the prisoner’s wife, said that dawn in Abakan occurs at 5:00 a.m., but breakfast in the colony is scheduled two to three hours later.

For now, Bekirov manages to eat iftar during the general mealtime in the dining hall at 7:00 p.m. However, the lawyer noted that due to the increasing daylight hours, he will no longer be able to eat with the rest of the prisoners in the evening by the end of March.

“In the morning, he drinks water. And at seven o’clock, he eats. Then he will lose this opportunity,” she said.

The defender also said that Bekirov and his co-religionists have their food, which they order through the commissary. However, it is stored in a locked place, and no prisoner can access the products outside the scheduled times.

The lawyer noted that the Muslim only wants his rights to be respected so that he can observe the rules of his religion without endangering his life or health.

Remzi Bekirov is a citizen journalist, activist of Crimean Solidarity, and correspondent for the online publication Grani.ru. He streamed politically motivated persecutions against residents of the peninsula. In addition, Bekirov initiated the idea of ​​collective assistance to the families of Crimean political prisoners.

On March 27, 2019, mass searches took place in the temporarily occupied Crimea. Investigative actions were carried out in Kamianka, Strohanivka, and Bile – settlements in the suburbs of Simferopol, where predominantly Crimean Tatars live.

FSB officers detained 20 people at that time. Three more were detained in Rostov-on-Don a few days later, and three were put on a wanted list. Later, two more Crimean Tatars were detained in this case.

Crimean Tatar activists were accused of involvement in the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia but operates without restrictions under the national legislation of many countries worldwide and in Ukraine.   

Most of those arrested are members of the human rights association Crimean Solidarity. Shaban Umerov, Remzi Bekirov, Riza Izetov, and Raim Aivazov were charged under Part 1 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for organizing the activities of a terrorist organization.

On March 10, 2022, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the defendants in the FSB’s fabricated second Simferopol “Crimean Muslims’ case” – Crimean journalist Remzi Bekirov, human rights defender Riza Izetov, activists Shaban Umerov, Farkhad Bazarov, and Raim Aivazov – to prison terms ranging from 15 to 19 years.   

Earlier, ZMINA reported that the illegitimate “Kirovsky District court” of occupied Crimea refused to accept the administrative lawsuit of citizen journalist and Kremlin prisoner Remzi Bekirov against Correctional Colony No. 33, where he is serving his sentence.

The court hearing in the case took place on February 20, on Benkirovr’s birthday. A month before that, he was sent to a disciplinary cell (SIZO) for five days for reading the morning prayer (namaz).