Teymur Abdullaev, one of 19 Crimean Muslims held illegally in indefinite detention in Russian-occupied Crimea has been placed in a punishment cell for writing a letter to his family in Crimean Tatar. The guards considered that only Russian was acceptable.
The information became available only because of a scheduled court hearing on extending the detention of all five men detained since October 2016. Before the hearing was due to begin (only to be deferred until March 27), Abdullaev had brief contact by video-link from the SIZO [remand prison] with his lawyer Emil Kurbedinov. While there is no way of independently verifying his account, Kurbedinov told Krym.realii that he is sure that he is telling the truth, and says that he has come upon such incidents. He himself gets stopped during court hearings if he tries to speak with his clients in Crimean Tatar.
