Crimean citizen journalist Remzi Bekirov still in solitary confinement in Russian prison for praying

Crimean Tatar citizen journalist Remzi Bekirov has been repeatedly sentenced to solitary confinement for performing the five daily prayers in Abakan penal colony No. 33 (Russia), Bekirov's family reports to ZMINA.

According to them, the prison administration has sent Bekirov to solitary confinement multiple times, extending his isolation period for the same reason – performing religious rituals.

The political prisoner has said in letters that he had spent a lot of time in maximum security but the pressure from the administration did not cease. The journalist’s family tried to appeal the conditions of his detention in court, but was dismissed. They also filed complaints with a Russian prosecutor’s office, namely that of Khakassia region, and with the Russian human rights commissioner, but received no response.

“The problem is that this colony's internal regulations do not allow the five prayers. Essentially, it is this regulation that we need to challenge. Even though in reality, each of us is entitled to performing our religious rites. How many times he ended up in solitary confinement during this time, I can’t even recall. Remzi is outraged by this, and so are we, because we are convinced that prayer is not a crime,” says Bekirov’s relative.

Remzi Bekirov is a citizen journalist and a Crimean Tatar movement activist, a defendant in the “second Simferopol Hizb ut-Tahrir case”. He was detained in March 2019.

Russia's Rostov-on-Don military court sentenced him to 19 years in a maximum-security prison in 2022. Bekirov actively reported on the repression against Crimean Tatars and worked with the civil society association Crimean Solidarity.