Detention: August 2025, detained by Russian security forces.

Sentence: As of July 19, 2026, no sentence has been issued. Dmytro Kolyada is held in pre-trial detention centre No. 2 in Simferopol (Akmesdzhit). There is no official information on the charges in open sources. Human rights defenders consider him a victim of politically motivated persecution.

Dmytro Denysovych Kolyada was born in 1996 in Krasnoperekopsk, Autonomous Republic of Crimea. He is a citizen of Ukraine. At the time of the Russian Federation's occupation of Crimea in 2014, Dmytro was 17 years old. According to human rights activists, he did not accept the Russian occupation of the peninsula.

Dmytro's parents divorced shortly after his birth. He stayed with his mother in Crimea, while his father moved to mainland Ukraine with a new family about a year before the occupation. Dmytro studied in Armyansk, where he received secondary specialized education. Before his detention, he had no legal issues and no criminal record.

In August 2025, Dmytro Kolyada was detained by Russian security forces. He effectively disappeared afterward. For nearly eight months, his relatives were unaware of his whereabouts. The Russian side did not inform the family of his location, provide procedural information, or allow contact with his relatives. This practice aligns with incommunicado detention, where a person is isolated from the outside world.

Only in the spring of 2026 did Zarema Bariieva, a manager at the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, report that Dmytro Kolyada was in pre-trial detention centre No. 2 in Simferopol. According to her, even after his location was established, he was practically deprived of the opportunity to communicate with his family. Human rights defenders emphasize that prolonged concealment of a detainee's location is a gross violation of international human rights standards.

As of July 19, 2026, Dmytro Kolyada remains in pre-trial detention centre No. 2 in Simferopol. There is no information in open sources about the completion of the pre-trial investigation, transfer of the case to court, or issuance of a sentence.

Information used from open sources: Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Ukrinform, Suspilne Crimea, Korol Danylo.

Photo: Crimean Tatar Resource Center.

Update date: 19.07.2026.