Political prisoners are moved from Simferopol to secret detention centre on Crimean border – Ukraine's Ombudsman

In the village of Chonhar, located on the Ukrainian mainland bordering occupied Crimea, Russian invaders have secretly created a pre-trial detention centre to which political prisoners who had been held in Simferopol for several months have been moved.

Source: Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights; Crimean Human Rights Group

Details: The ombudsman noted that the Russian invaders have opened an unofficial pre-trial detention centre in the village of Chonhar, Henichesk district, Kherson Oblast. According to the Crimean Human Rights Group, some political prisoners have been transferred there from Crimea.

Some of the political prisoners held at Simferopol’s detention centre No. 2 have already been transferred. People who were detained for political reasons in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts are also being held there.

In particular, about 10 detainees are being held at the new pre-trial detention centre on suspicion of participating in the Crimean Tatar battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhikhanin.

Currently, 181 people are being illegally detained in Crimea and Russia, Lubinets added.

Quote: "Such detentions are illegal! This is a violation of human rights and freedoms by the occupation administration. All illegally imprisoned persons held in places of detention on trumped-up charges must be released."

Details: On 1 June, the Crimean Human Rights Group reported that the Russian invaders have opened another unofficial pre-trial detention centre in the village of Chonhar, Henichesk district, Kherson Oblast, which has not been officially reported.

Several informed sources in occupied Crimea told the CHRG that some of the political prisoners from the south, who had been held in Simferopol detention centre No. 2, have been transferred to the new penitentiary institution.

In addition, people who have been detained for political reasons in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts are also being moved there. In particular, about 10 detainees are being held at the new pre-trial detention centre on suspicion of participating in the Crimean Tatar battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhikhan.

Lenur Ablyamitovich Khalilov (DOB 09.06.71) from the village of Rykovo, Henichesk district, is also being held at the pre-trial detention centre in Chonhar. He is accused of violating Art. 208.2 of the Russian Criminal Code (Organisation of or participation in an illegal armed formation).

In general, Russia is deploying punitive bodies in the newly occupied territories of southern Ukraine that terrorize civilians and abduct, torture and illegally imprison people.

Previously: Pre-trial detention centre No. 2 appeared on the premises of penal colony No. 1 in Simferopol in the autumn of 2022. Political prisoners whom Russia had abducted from the newly occupied territories of southern Ukraine are kept there in a special unit. At the end of 2022, detention centre No. 2 contained at least 110 people brought from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts.

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