The Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia has declined to consider the request of political prisoner Arsen Abkhairov for a transfer closer to his home.

The Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia (FSIN), despite a court ruling made four months ago, refuses to consider the application of political prisoner Arsen Abkhairov, a Crimean Tatar, for transfer to a colony closer to home.

This was reported to “Crimean Solidarity” by the wife of the Kremlin captive, Aziza Abkhairov.

Since Abkhairov was transferred from Crimea, the court has reviewed his requests for a transfer closer to home twice. In December 2022, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow ruled that the FSIN's refusal to transfer the political prisoner closer to his family was illegal. The court ordered the agency to reconsider his request, but the FSIN ignored this and did not comply with the court's decision.

As of January 2024, the Crimean Muslim is located in correctional colony No. 8 in Ulan-Ude, Republic of Buryatia, which is over seven thousand kilometers away from Crimea.

After receiving yet another refusal from the FSIN regarding the transfer application, Abkhairov's wife filed a lawsuit against the agency again. In September 2024, the occupying Krasnogvardeysky District Court of Crimea recognized the FSIN's refusal to transfer the political prisoner as “unmotivated.”

The new ruling emphasizes that as of autumn 2024, the FSIN “has the opportunity” to transfer the political prisoner to the territory of the Southern Federal District of Russia: to colonies in Crimea, Adygea, Arkhangelsk, Volgograd, and Rostov regions. The “court” ordered the FSIN to “reconsider Abkhairov's request for transfer” within a month. However, since October 2024, the agency has yet to do so.

Abkhairov's wife noted that the negligence of FSIN staff violates her husband's rights, as due to the distance, he cannot benefit from either short-term or long-term visits, and the family cannot ascertain the moral, physical, and emotional condition of the Crimean Tatar.

“There is also a violation of private family life, as my husband cannot participate in raising our children, and the children are deprived of parental attention and care,” emphasized Aziza.

In August of last year, despite a request for a transfer closer to Crimea, Arsen Abkhairov was sent to serve his sentence from the Krasnoyarsk region to Buryatia – to correctional colony No. 8 in Ulan-Ude.

It is worth noting that the individuals involved in the “Krasnogvardeyskaya group of Hizb ut-Tahrir” were detained on February 14, 2019. In November 2020, the Southern District Military Court sentenced Rustem Emiruseinov to 17 years in prison, Eskender Abdulganiev to 12 years, and Arsen Abkhairov to 13 years.

For the first two years, taking into account the time spent in a pre-trial detention center, Abkhairov was supposed to serve time in prison. However, his time in the detention center was not counted towards his prison sentence.

Previously, ZMINA reported that Crimean political prisoner Arsen Abkhairov, a member of the “Krasnogvardeyskaya group of Hizb ut-Tahrir,” spent two and a half months longer in prison No. 2 in Yeniseisk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, than his designated term due to an error in the court's clarification.