Detention: In January 2015, Sinaver Kadyrov was forcibly deported from the occupied peninsula to mainland Ukraine for refusing to obtain a Russian passport and due to his human rights activities.

Sentence: After the occupation of Crimea, the Russian Federation unlawfully administratively expelled Sinaver from the territory of occupied Crimea in 2015.

Sinaver Ismailovich Kadyrov was born in late December 1954 – a Crimean Tatar public figure, veteran of the Crimean Tatar national movement, human rights activist, and one of the well-known dissidents of the Soviet era. Born into a family of deported Crimean Tatars, he studied at the Faculty of Crimean Tatar Language and Literature at the Tashkent Pedagogical Institute, where he became one of the leaders of the student Crimean Tatar movement. During his student years, he organized information campaigns, supported political prisoners, and advocated for the return of Crimean Tatars to their historical homeland.

Sinaver Ismailovich Kadyrov faced political persecution even during the USSR. In 1985, he was arrested in Uzbekistan for his active participation in the Crimean Tatar national movement. In the mid-1980s, Soviet authorities opened a criminal case against him, accusing him of 'organizing mass riots', 'anti-Soviet activities', and transmitting information about the discrimination of Crimean Tatars abroad. In 1985, a Soviet court sentenced Sinaver Kadyrov to three years of imprisonment. He served his sentence in Yakutia. After the verdict, he was transferred to a correctional colony in Yakutia, where he became one of the last political prisoners of the Soviet Union.

Sinaver Kadyrov was sentenced and sent to a colony in Yakutia. During his imprisonment, Crimean Tatars held large-scale protests in Moscow and other cities of the USSR, demanding the release of political prisoners and the return of the people to Crimea. Kadyrov repeatedly emphasized that the struggle of the Crimean Tatars was not only for returning to their homeland but also for restoring national dignity and the rights of the indigenous people.

After his release, he continued active public activities, and after the return of Crimean Tatars to Crimea, he became one of the veterans of the national movement.

After the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014, he openly opposed the annexation, supported the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, and engaged in human rights activities. In January 2015, the occupation authorities unlawfully deported him from Crimea for refusing to accept Russian citizenship. Since then, he has lived on mainland Ukraine and continues to participate in public activities related to the protection of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people.

Information used from open sources:Ukrinform, Center for Investigative Journalism, Radio Liberty, ZMINA,

Photo: Radio Liberty.

Date updated:29.07.2026.