Journalist Held in Russian Captivity Endures Severe Torture
October 23, 2025
Honour for Courage in Journalism
October 24, 2025
October 24, 2025 – Crimea –
Crimean-Tatar citizen journalist and political prisoner Amet Suleymanov, who is serving a 12-year sentence in a Russian maximum-security penal colony, has seen his health deteriorate rapidly under incarceration. His wife, Lilia Liumanova, reported that during her visit on 24 June 2025 to the detention facility in Vladimir, Russia, she observed dangerously elevated blood pressure reaching approximately 230 mmHg and visible bodily symptoms, including a widespread rash and dental problems.
Suleymanov suffers from serious and chronic heart conditions, including arterial and mitral valve insufficiency, and had previously been recommended for heart valve replacement surgery. Despite the severity of his medical condition, the authorities have apparently denied or delayed his release from detention and delayed critical surgery, even though his illnesses appear to qualify as incompatible with imprisonment under Russian law.
In addition to the hypertensive episodes, Suleymanov reports weakness, heart pain, frequent nosebleeds, vision deterioration diagnosed as retinal angiopathy, and unexplained skin rashes that itch and appear intermittently. In his most recent letter from prison, he described a hematoma beneath his knee, high evening blood-pressure readings close to 200 mmHg, and concerns that the leg injury may be linked to circulatory clotting or further cardiac-related complications.
Suleymanov was arrested in March 2020 by occupying authorities in Crimea and subsequently tried and sentenced in 2023 for alleged affiliation with the banned Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, charges that both his legal team and human-rights observers deem politically motivated. The jailed journalist’s legal representatives have requested access to his full ultrasound and cardiac records to assess the full extent of his deterioration, but have received only incomplete information from the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service.
Human-rights advocates and Suleymanov’s family warn that the continuing neglect of his medical needs places him at imminent risk of a life-threatening event. They argue that his ongoing detention in these conditions is incompatible with the severity of his underlying diseases and call for his immediate transfer to a facility where he can receive proper surgical care
Reference –
The Health of Crimean Political Prisoner Amet Suleimanov Has Significantly Deteriorated
