The Hafarov-Shyring list: rescue of Crimean political prisoners at risk
Since the beginning of 2023, two Crimean political prisoners – Dzhemil Hafarov and Kostiantyn Shyring – died in places of detention.
This happened because the occupying power does not care about the health of political prisoners. Repression against Ukrainian prisoners in Crimea and in the territory of the Russian Federation has significantly intensified over the past year and a half – since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Right now, human rights activists are aware of at least 180 Crimean political prisoners, most of whom are Crimean Tatars.
Among these people, several dozen political prisoners have chronic diseases, disabilities or are elderly persons. Many of them received long terms of imprisonment, all of them stay in conditions of non-provision of medical care. As of August 2023, there are 45 people on the list. Some of them are at risk of not being released and dying.
By deliberately not providing medical care to civilians protected by the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Russia continues to violate its obligations under international law, and the officials of the occupation administration of Crimea and the Russian Federation commit a crime provided for in Article 438 (Violation laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, as well as Article 8(2)(a)(ii) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
