Crimean citizen journalist Remzi Bekirov not allowed to read namaz in Russian prison, says attorney

Remzi Bekirov. Photo by Crimean Solidarity

Crimean citizen journalist Remzi Bekirov, who has been sentenced to 19 years in prison, is not allowed to read namaz in colony No. 33 in the city of Abakan, the political prisoner’s attorney reported to Crimean Solidarity after visiting him in the prison.

Bekirov is currently in strict detention regime (SDR), which he was assigned in November 2024. The high-security section is located on the second floor of the building, which had a “blind zone” with no surveillance cameras where Muslims could pray. In December, the high-security section was moved to a different area on the first floor.

“For some time, they prayed there, then mass transfers to solitary confinement began,” the attorney said.

Remzi Bekirov has sued the colony, contesting his transfer to the SDR for praying. However, the Russian court ruling that the journalist’s actions “were a violation of the daily routine”; later, a second cell was installed in the SDR section and the “blind spots” were gone.

“If earlier he was sent to the SDR for praying while standing, now he is sent there even if he prays while sitting down. They don’t let him read [namaz] at all,” Bekirov’s wife Khalide says.

According to the lawyer, the last time the journalist left the SCU was the day before his visit, on April 24.

As the human rights advocates remind, the pressure on Remzi Bekirov began after his transfer to penal colony No. 33 in Abakan. He was regularly assigned SDR for arbitrary reasons such as praying at night or on a towel, not greeting a ward, not wearing a cap.

Who is Remzi Bekirov

In August 2024, Remzi Bekirov was moved from the pre-trial detention center in Krasnoyarsk (Russia) to penal colony No. 33 in Abakan (the capital of the Republic of Khakassia).

On August 10, 2024, his lawyer Emil Kurbedinov reported that citizen journalist Remzi Bekirov, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison, is under pressure from the administration of the prison No. 33 in Abakan, Republic of Khakassia (RF).

Remzi Bekirov is a Crimean Tatar citizen journalist with "Crimean Solidarity". Detained in occupied Crimea during searches in the homes of Crimean Tatar activists on March 27, 2019. Bekirov livestreamed searches and trials in politically motivated cases and reported on the persecution of Crimean Tatars. Sentenced to 19 years in prison for alleged terrorism and attempted overthrow of government by the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don (Russia) in 2020.

Remzi Bekirov is on the list of journalists in Russian detention by the Institute of Mass Information.

In late October 2024, it was reported that Remzi Bekirov had been assigned strict detention regime in the Abakan prison No. 33 (Khakassia Republic).

It was reported in December 2024 that Remzi Bekirov lost 15 kilograms of weight in the Russian prison.