October 20, 2026, 9:52 AMRSSRU

Ruslan Suleimanov

ImprisonedChecked October 18, 2026

Ruslan Suleimanov, born 1983, Occupied territory of Republic of Crimea. Charges: Article 205.5 part 2, Russian Criminal Code (Participation in the activities of a terrorist organization); Article 278 applied with Article 30 part 1, Russian Criminal Code (Preparing for violent seizure of power or alteration of the constitutional order); “The case of Enver Ametov, Osman Arifmemetov, Yashar Muyedinov, Ruslan Suleymanov, and Rustem Sheykhaliyev”. Sentence (November 23, 2022): 14 years' imprisonment in a strict regime penal colony, 2 years' restriction of liberty. Status: imprisoned; deprived of liberty since March 29, 2019; place of detention: Penal colony No. 17, Murmansk Oblast. Recognition: Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners — recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religion, May 23, 2019; Memorial Human Rights Centre — recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religion, May 13, 2019.

In brief

Occupied territory of Republic of Crimea · Simferopol · IT specialists, Teachers · Terrorism cases, Cases against Hizb ut-Tahrir

Sentence

14 years

imprisonment in a strict regime penal colony, 2 years' restriction of liberty

Verdict November 23, 2022

Upheld February 1, 2024

Charges

Full wording of the charges

was a member of a 'Hizb ut-Tahrir' cell, held secret meetings to disseminate terrorist ideology among the residents of the peninsula, recruited Crimean Muslims, and participated in preparations for the overthrowing of the constitutional order.

Latest event

February 1, 2024 — appeal

The court upheld the verdict.

Checked October 18, 2026 · no changes since October 15

Recognition by rights defenders

Timeline

  1. · Appeal ruling

    upheld

  2. · First-instance verdict

    guilty verdict · 14 years

  3. · Added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”

  4. · Recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religion

    Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners

  5. · Recognised as unlawfully deprived of liberty for exercising freedom of religion

    Memorial Human Rights Centre

  6. · Preventive measure: pre-trial detention

    Pre-trial Detention Centre №4 (SIZO-4) of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation for the Rostov Oblast

Criminal case

The case of Enver Ametov, Osman Arifmemetov, Yashar Muyedinov, Ruslan Suleymanov, and Rustem Sheykhaliyev

Other defendants in the case

Thematic group: Second Simferopol case of "Hizb ut-Tahrir"

Write a letter

Facility: Penal colony No. 17, Murmansk Oblast

Address (in Russian, as written on the envelope)

183035, Россия, г. Мурманск, ул. Угольная база, 9, ФКУ «ИК № 17 УФСИН России по Мурманской области», Сулейманов Руслан Серверович, 1983 г.р.

Address checked October 18, 2026

Details and sources

Full summary

According to OVD-Info

Activist of the “Crimean Solidarity” movement. On March 27, 2019, he was detained after a search and the next day taken into custody on charges of organising activities of a terrorist organisation. Sent to a pre-trial detention centre in the Rostov region, later transferred back to Crimea.

In March 2020, it became known that Suleimanov was also accused of preparing to overthrow the constitutional order. In August, the charge of organising the activities of a terrorist organisation was reclassified into participation in such activities.

On November 24, 2022, he was sentenced to 14 years in a strict-regime penal colony.

In December 2023, it was reported that Suleymanov was not receiving items purchased through the FSIN (Federal Penitentiary Service) prison store.

'Suleimanov repeatedly sought medical help due to his congenital heart defect and tachycardia. The doctor came to him only once, offering motherwort and glycine. The political prisoner refused both medications. When he asked for a non-alcohol-based drug, the doctors said they had none (https://crimean-solidarity.org/news/2023/11/10/grazhdanskij-zhurnalist-ruslan-sulejmanov-pozhalovalsya-na-bezdejstvie-vrachej-2796).

In June 2020, Ruslan Suleimanov (https://hromadske.ua/posts/v-aneksovanomu-krimu-gromadyanskogo-zhurnalista-na-misyac-vidpravili-do-psihiatrichnoyi-likarni) was placed in the inpatient ward of the Crimean Republican Psychiatric Hospital, where he underwent a month-long forced forensic psychiatric examination: 'We are deeply concerned by reports that a journalist in Crimea has been subjected to a month-long compulsory forensic psychiatric examination. We call on Russia to immediately cease its human rights abuses in Crimea and withdraw from Ukrainian territory,' — stated the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. (https://twitter.com/USEmbassyKyiv/status/1276094477774589952) In July, Ruslan's lawyer Liliia Gemedzhi said that her client had been diagnosed with a heart defect (https://krymsos.com/news/5f0d6572a5f6a/)

On July 26, 2020, the body of three-year-old Musa Suleimanov — the son of political prisoner Ruslan Suleimanov, a defendant in the second Simferopol Hizb ut-Tahrir case — was found after a three-day search in the annexed Crimea (https://hromadske.ua/ru/posts/v-anneksirovannom-krymu-nashli-mertvym-trehletnego-syna-politzaklyuchennogo-musu-sulejmanova-kotorogo-razyskivali-3-dnya).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the issue (https://hromadske.ua/ru/posts/zelenskij-obsudil-s-putinym-osvobozhdeniya-politzaklyuchennogo-sulejmanova-ego-trehletnego-syna-nashli-mertvym-v-krymu) of releasing the political prisoner Suleimanov, who was being held in a detention centre in the annexed Crimea. Ruslan's lawyer had sent an appeal to the FSB investigators asking them to release Ruslan to attend his son’s funeral. The request was denied. The farewell ceremony took place without him.

All fields of the record
Citizenship
Russia
Sources (2)

Other people prosecuted under Article 205.5 part 2, Russian Criminal Code

Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.

All 370 under this article →