“Letters to Free Crimea” campaign will continue until all political prisoners are released: results of the campaign summarised in Kyiv

On 11 February 2025, Ukraine Crisis Media Center hosted a press conference to summarise the results of the “Letters to Free Crime” campaign in 2024. Launched in April 2023, this campaign has been uniting Ukrainians and concerned people from all over the world for over a year and a half to support Crimean political prisoners illegally detained by Russia.

“Letters to Free Crimea” campaign will continue until all political prisoners are released

At the beginning of the event, Yevhen Bondarenko, Head of the Information Support Department of the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, made an important announcement that the Letters to Free Crimea campaign will continue until the de-occupation of Crimea and the release of all Crimean political prisoners.

Results and geography of the 2024 campaign

Anna Sytnikova, Deputy Head of the Crimean Platform’s Support Service of the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, explained how the campaign works and how many letters were written in 2024.

“During 2024, we managed to collect more than 1800 letters. These letters were collected both online and during events and activities. The “Letters to Free Crimea” campaign provides an opportunity to support political prisoners and their families, to send a signal once again that they are not alone and the Ukrainian state (both state institutions and NGOs) is fighting for their release. That is why this year we have decided that the campaign will be open-ended, because our support and involvement are constantly needed by each and every person who is now forced to serve illegal sentences in Russian prisons for their pro-Ukrainian position“, said Sytnikova.

Anna Sytnikova

Viktoriia Nesterenko, project manager at the Human Rights Centre ZMINA, said that over the past year, the initiative has covered at least 25 public events in Ukraine, as well as events in Berlin, Prague, Warsaw and other cities. 

“Over this year, together with the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and PEN Ukraine, we held the campaign at 25 public events in Ukraine, including festivals, book forums, and street exhibitions. The campaign was also repeatedly held abroad at various forums and conferences: in Berlin, Prague, Warsaw and other cities. After collecting the letters, we sort them, scan them and send them in digital format to relatives, lawyers and human rights defenders from Crimea, who then pass them on to the addressees, if possible“, said Viktoriia Nesterenko.

Viktoriia Nesterenko

She also shared her observations that people in the regions where the letter-writing events took place know very little about political prisoners: “Unfortunately, it was a shocking discovery for us, and we realised that we are not doing enough in this area. We need to talk more and more about the situation in Crimea, about human rights violations in the occupation and about supporting political prisoners and their families“.

Letters are a light of support for political prisoners

Crimean Tatar activist and released political prisoner Leniie Umerova, who spent a year and nine months in illegal detention in Russia, recalled her experience of receiving letters and stressed their importance for those in captivity: “Why is it necessary to write letters? Firstly, it is a signal to the administration of the colony or pre-trial detention centre: people know about you, they care about you. It means they have to respect you at least minimally. Secondly, it is support that gives you the strength to keep fighting. Thirdly, each letter or response to it can become a reason for a new wave of information that does not allow us to forget about a person in captivity. Today I am here, among you. Because at one time, society was not silent. People wrote letters, spread the word, and mentioned my name in international arenas. And it worked“.

Leniie Umerova

Larysa Denysenko, Ukrainian writer, lawyer, member of PEN Ukraine, public ambassador of political prisoner and civil journalist Remzi Bekirov, stressed the uniqueness and importance of the initiative: “When a person is imprisoned, imprisoned unjustly, imprisoned by an aggressor, it is important for them that their name is spoken in public space, among communities, among people, in their home country, and that they are treated as a beacon, compass, landmark, held in the heart and by the hand at a distance. We are all a common nerve of justice. Each letter is a connection with home. We write in Russian because there are hostile censors there. We write sensitively, because the number one rule is: do no harm, support. How the house smells. How nature breathes. What’s around us, how much we miss, how important it is for us to convey this love across thousands of kilometres. This is a special communication: without specific symbols, patriotism, realism, to convey our state, our connection, our common cultural space. This is a broadcast between our own people, a broadcast beyond the understanding of censors“.

Larysa Denysenko

Number of Crimean political prisoners

During the event, the latest data on Crimean political prisoners was also presented. As of autumn 2024, their number reached 218, of whom 132 were Crimean Tatars.

Anna Sytnikova reported on the recent detentions of five more Crimean Tatars, as well as the release of three political prisoners on 11 February 2025 after nine years of illegal detention. She emphasised that the actual number of prisoners is much higher, as many new cases do not have full information in the public domain. 

The speakers called on all Ukrainians to join the campaign and write letters to political prisoners. They also provided recommendations on how to properly compose letters so that they pass censorship and reach their recipients.

Leniie Umerova with letters

Organisers: Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, PEN Ukraine, the Human Rights Centre ZMINA.

You can watch the full video of the press conference here.