Detention: On February 24, 2025, Russian occupying forces conducted a search at the home of Crimean Tatar Eldar Karamurzaiev in the village of Novooleksiivka in the temporarily occupied part of Kherson Oblast and unlawfully detained him. The occupiers accused him of alleged participation in the Crimean Tatar volunteer battalion named after Noman Çelebicihan and aiding the civil blockade of Crimea. After the detention, his FIAT car and its registration certificate were confiscated.

Sentence: On December 12, 2025, the occupation court in Henichesk, Kherson Oblast, sentenced Eldar Karamurzaiev to 8 years in a high-security penal colony.

Eldar Karamurzaiev is a Crimean Tatar, a father of many children, a citizen of Ukraine, and one of the numerous representatives of the Crimean Tatar people who have become victims of politically motivated persecution by the Russian Federation following the occupation of Crimea.

Before the Russian occupation of Crimea, Eldar lived in Dzhankoi. After Russia's annexation of the peninsula in 2014, he, like thousands of other Crimeans, made the difficult decision to leave his home. He moved with his family to Zhytomyr, where he attempted to start a new life on Ukrainian-controlled territory. A few years later, the family settled in Novooleksiivka, Kherson Oblast, a locality near the administrative border with Crimea. This allowed them to stay closer to their homeland and maintain connections with relatives and the Crimean Tatar community.

A notable aspect of Eldar's story is that he has a Group II disability due to congenital cerebral palsy. Human rights advocates note that he limps on one leg and, even when free, had difficulty moving and could not perform heavy physical work. Therefore, his detention in a pre-trial detention center and subsequent imprisonment raise particular concerns regarding the right to medical assistance and humane treatment.

The detention of Karamurzaiev became known only a month after his disappearance. According to Eskender Bariiev, head of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, on February 24, 2025, Russian security forces searched his home and took him away to an unknown location. The family had no reliable information about his whereabouts for a long time. It was initially reported that he was held in the Novotroitske pre-trial detention center in the occupied part of Kherson Oblast.

According to human rights defenders, the investigation into Karamurzaiev was not accompanied by proper evidence of his guilt. During the nine months in the pre-trial detention center, only a few formal court hearings were held. Eskender Bariiev emphasized that the case was entirely fabricated, and the charges were not based on real facts. Additionally, the occupiers effectively concealed information about his location even from his relatives.

The situation became difficult for the political prisoner's family. Eldar's elderly mother tried for several months to find her son, appealing to various occupation structures in the Henichesk district. However, information about his place of detention was withheld for a long time.

On December 12, 2025, the occupation court in Henichesk issued a sentence: eight years in a high-security penal colony. Human rights defenders consider this sentence politically motivated and illegal. Karamurzaiev became the 30th person convicted in cases related to the Noman Çelebicihan battalion in the occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts. Overall, within this campaign of persecution, Russian authorities have arrested at least 73 Ukrainian citizens, including 21 in occupied Crimea and another 52 after Russia's full-scale invasion of newly occupied territories.

The Crimean Tatar Resource Center emphasizes that no person prosecuted in the Noman Çelebicihan battalion cases has yet been released through exchange. Human rights advocates insist that such detainees should be considered according to the provisions of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.

Information sourced from open sources: Suspilne Crimea, ZMINA, Crimean Tatar Resource Center.

Photo: Crimean Tatar Resource Center.

Date of update: 11.07.2026.