US Human Rights Commission calls for release of Crimean Tatar journalist Rustem Sheikhaliyev on his 47th birthday
On 22 June, Crimean Tatar citizen journalist and political prisoner Rustem Sheikhaliyev turned 47. To mark the occasion, the US-based Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, which promotes and protects international human rights standards, called for his release.
The statement emphasised that Sheikhaliyev remains behind bars because of his journalistic work and human rights advocacy aimed at exposing abuses in temporarily occupied Crimea.
“Today marks the 47th birthday of Crimean Tatar citizen journalist Rustem Sheikhaliev, born in 1979. Rustem remains unjustly imprisoned for exposing human rights abuses. Rustem and all political prisoners in Crimea must be released,” the commission said.
Russian security forces detained Sheikhaliyev during mass searches of Crimean Tatar homes in March 2019. At the time, more than two dozen people were arrested simultaneously in occupied Simferopol and surrounding areas.
Before his arrest, Sheikhaliyev actively supported the families of political prisoners, attended hearings in politically motivated cases and organised aid parcels for unlawfully imprisoned Crimean Tatars. Since 2015, he had worked as a citizen journalist, documenting searches, detentions and other forms of repression targeting Crimea’s Muslim community.
In November 2022, the Southern District Military Court sentenced the journalist to 14 years in a maximum-security penal colony. During appeal proceedings in 2024, Sheikhaliyev said the charges against him were linked to his religious beliefs and his public statements.
The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission was established by the US House of Representatives in 2008. It monitors human rights situations worldwide and draws the attention of US lawmakers to cases of political persecution, including those occurring in temporarily occupied by Russia Ukrainian territories.
ZMINA previously reported that Sheikhaliyev’s health had deteriorated while he was being held in a Russian penal colony.
In January 2024, prison medical staff in Russia refused to hospitalise Sheikhaliyev after examining him.
On 16 January, Sheikhaliyev was due to participate via video link in an appeal hearing from Pre-Trial Detention Centre No. 3 in Novocherkassk. However, he suffered a severe nosebleed during the proceedings. He was taken to the prison medical unit before later being returned to his cell.
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