Today, we share the story of Crimean Tatar civic and religious activist Bilial Adilov, who has been unlawfully sentenced to 14 years in a maximum-security penal colony.
Life before the detention
Bilial Adilov was born on May 27, 1970, in the city of Hamza, Uzbekistan, where his family, along with other Crimean Tatars, was deported by the Soviet totalitarian regime in 1944.
After finishing school, he attended the vocational school in the city of Almalyk, where he trained as a gas welder.
In 1990, he returned to Crimea, settling in the village of Chernove in the Karman District. In 1993, he graduated from the Bakhchysarai Сollege of Construction.
In April 2005, he moved with his family to Simferopol, where he worked as a construction worker.
What did the occupiers come up with?
On March 27, 2019, security forces of the occupation administration conducted the largest mass searches in the homes of Crimean Tatars in the Kamianka and Strohanivka districts of Simferopol, as well as in the Bilohirsk and Karman districts of Crimea, during which at least 20 local residents, including Bilial Adilov, were detained.
On May 12, 2022, a Russian court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Bilial Adilov to 14 years in a maximum-security penal colony, with the first five years to be served in prison and a subsequent 1.5-year restriction of freedom after release. Other Crimean Tatars detained under the “Crimean Muslims case” — Tofik Abdulhaziiev, Vladlen Abdulkadyrov, Izzet Abdullaiev, and Medzhyt Abdurakhmanov — were sentenced to 12 years.
Why was Bilial Adilov actually detained?
In 2017, two years before his arrest, Bilial Adilov was detained near the building of the so-called “Supreme Court” of Crimea, where he had come with other activists to support Crimean Tatar Amet Suleimanov, who was also facing Russian repression.
Adilov was accused of allegedly using violence against a representative of the occupation administration’s security forces. Although the case resulted only in a fine, this incident marked the beginning of a series of harassment and pressure against him—his active civic engagement, support for the families of political prisoners, and participation in cultural and religious events irritated the occupiers, who increasingly sought grounds for further accusations, leading up to his arrest in 2019.
Where is Bilial Adilov now?
After the sentence was passed, Bilial Adilov was initially taken to Detention Center No. 3 in the city of Novocherkassk, Rostov region, Russia. He was later unlawfully transferred to a prison in Minusinsk, Krasnoyarsk region.
Starting June 27, 2023, his lawyers fought for his release in Russian appellate courts; however, on August 27 of the same year, the cassation court ultimately upheld the political prisoner’s sentence, and by August 2024, the Russian Supreme Court also refused to reduce the unlawful sentences of Crimean political prisoners.
At the end of August 2024, he informed in a letter that he would be transferred again. Still, it wasn’t until October 23 that it became known he was held in Correctional Colony No. 1 in the city of Kyzyl, Tuva Republic, over 5,000 kilometers from Crimea.
“Two months of uncertainty and endless inquiries. We reached out to every agency the lawyers recommended, but we still haven’t received any answers,” said Hulnara Adilova, the political prisoner’s wife.