Statement on the repeated unlawful imprisonment of ill political prisoner Lenur Khalilov

Lenur Khalilov, a 57-year-old Ukrainian citizen unlawfully convicted by Russia, who had previously been released from a Russian penal colony on health grounds, has been taken back into detention. By the decision of the Arkhangelsk Regional Court of the Russian Federation dated 14 October 2025, Lenur Khalilov was unlawfully imprisoned again at the request of the prosecutor’s office, stating that “the mere formal presence of the convict’s said illness was recognised by the court as an unconditional ground for releasing Khalilov from the main punishment”.

Lenur Khalilov, who was unlawfully sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment, was diagnosed with several diseases: primary liver cancer with metastases in the lymph nodes, chronic hepatitis C, stage II hypertension, small liver cysts, a cyst in the left kidney and kidney stones. During his time in places of deprivation of liberty, his health deteriorated significantly due to the presence of chronic diseases, which were exacerbated by poor conditions of detention. Some of these diseases, namely cancer, are included in the list of those that prevent one from being held in detention in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation (Order of the Government of Russia No. 54 of 6 February 2004 “On the medical examination of convicts who are eligible for release from serving their sentence due to illness”), as referred to by the Isakogorsk District Court, which on 21 August 2025 decided to release Khalilov from detention on health grounds.

In the motion for Khalilov’s repeated imprisonment, prosecutor Riazanov stated that the court which released Khalilov on personal recognisance had issued such a decision “without due consideration, clarification, and establishment, as well as without proper assessment of other circumstances”. Among these circumstances, he cited the convicted person’s attitude towards treatment, his compliance with medical recommendations, his current state of health, and the possibility of receiving the necessary treatment without being released from punishment. According to the state prosecutor, the court’s conclusions, referring to the medical commission’s finding that Khalilov cannot be held in a penitentiary institution under general grounds, do not indicate the unconditional necessity of his release from serving his sentence due to the “severity of the criminal article”.

Lenur Khalilov is the former head of the independent Muslim community “Alushta” and one of the defendants in the “Alushta group of Hizb ut-Tahrir” case. He was detained on 10 June 2019 in the occupied Crimea in the village of Izobilne. On 16 August 2021, the Southern District Military Court of Rostov-on-Don handed down a verdict to the members of the “Alushta group”, sentencing Khalilov to 18 years of imprisonment. On 21 August 2025, it became known that 57-year-old Lenur Khalilov had been released from serving his sentence due to illness.

The Russian Federation, as the occupying power of part of Ukraine’s territory and a party to the international armed conflict, blatantly disregards international humanitarian law and systematically violates the human rights of Ukrainian citizens who are protected by the Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Through politically motivated persecution, arbitrary imprisonment, unlawful trials in the occupied Crimea, deportation of political prisoners and disregard for their situation in places of deprivation of liberty, Russia systematically violates its obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

Over the years of Russia’s occupation of Crimea, human rights defenders have documented numerous cases reflecting the indifference of penitentiary staff and judges towards the health of political prisoners and their need for medical care.

As of September 2025, at least 100 political prisoners have health problems, 46 of whom, both in occupied Crimea and on Russian territory, do not receive adequate emergency medical care and do not have access to medicines despite their urgent need. Russia systematically fails to provide necessary medical care to political prisoners, ignores their complaints about the lack of medical assistance, and courts uphold the verdicts of lower courts against unlawfully convicted seriously ill and people with disabilities, and today again imprisons those who, due to their critical health condition, had been released and given a chance to receive proper treatment. As a result of systematic disregard for health problems by judges and prison staff in Russian places of deprivation of liberty, three political prisoners have already died – Dzhemil Gafarov, Kostiantyn Shyring and Rustem Virati. Such inaction, the dismissive attitude of Russian officials and their disregard for the health of political prisoners pose a serious threat to their lives, which could ultimately lead to irreparable consequences – disability or death in detention.

We call on the Russian Federation to:

• release Lenur Khalilov due to his critical health condition and other ill political prisoners unlawfully held in the temporarily occupied Crimea, other temporarily occupied territories and the Russian Federation;
• cease applying the criminal legislation of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories;
• stop persecuting people in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories because of their political views, journalistic activities, activism, and religion.

We call on the Ukrainian authorities to:

• include Lenur Khalilov in the exchange lists and actively advocate for his release and the release of other ill political prisoners;
• develop an effective mechanism for the release of arbitrarily detained civilians and advocate for their return;
• provide effective support to the families of political prisoners and improve the mechanism for recognising people deprived of their liberty as a result of Russian aggression.

We call on the international community to:

• send a request to the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian Federation, Tetiana Moskalkova, demanding the release of Lenur Khalilov due to his critical health condition (Moskalkova@ombudsmanrf.ru);
• act as a mediator in the process of releasing arbitrarily detained civilians, prioritising those with health problems;
• provide all possible support to Ukraine in liberating all temporarily occupied territories, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol;
• impose personal sanctions against those involved in the cruel and inhuman treatment of Lenur Khalilov and all arbitrarily detained civilians;
• impose more effective sectoral sanctions against various sectors of the Russian economy that provide the financial basis for waging an aggressive war against Ukraine;
• impose sanctions against economic entities from various countries around the world that allow the aggressor state to circumvent existing restrictions;
• comprehensively support Ukraine to ensure the deoccupation of its territories within its internationally recognised borders.

Signed by:

Human Rights Centre ZMINA

Civic Union Human Rights House Crimea

NGO Crimean Process 

Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners of the Kremlin 

Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union

Crimean Human Rights Group

Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv

NGO Crimean SOS