March 2 marks the birthday of citizen journalist, Crimean Solidarity volunteer, and founder of the Crimean Tatar cultural and ethnographic center Salachyk, Marlen (Suleiman) Asanov. In September 2020, Russian occupiers illegally sentenced him to 19 years in prison.

Marlen (Suleiman) Asanov was born in 1977 in Bekabad, Uzbekistan. In the 1980s, after their forced deportation, his family returned to Crimea. He completed school and university there, studying philology and training as a tour guide. After graduation, he worked in his field, teaching Crimean Tatar language and literature at the Holubynska school. In 2000, he co-founded the Kokkos cultural and ethnographic center, and in 2002, he established the Salachyk center.

Since the beginning of Crimea’s occupation in 2014, Marlen (Suleiman) Asanov supported his fellow Crimean Tatars and assisted the families of political prisoners. He was an active member of the Crimean Solidarity civic initiative, attended court hearings in politically motivated cases, and documented searches by publishing videos on his YouTube channel.

In May 2016, Russian occupiers raided the Salachyk cultural and ethnographic center. Marlen (Suleiman) Asanov was then administratively charged with “disturbing public order” and fined. He was arrested again in October 2017 under false accusations of “participating in a terrorist organization.”

Despite the absence of evidence, in September 2020, he was unlawfully sentenced to 19 years in prison. Six months after his arrest, the Russian occupation administration shut down the Salachyk center, which his family had founded.

While in pre-trial detention, Marlen (Suleiman) Asanov was denied access to dental treatment, as the administration refused to allow a doctor to see him. Despite this, detention center officials issued a false report claiming that he had received medical care, including dental treatment, fillings, and sanitation—none of which actually happened.

Today, Marlen (Suleiman) Asanov is held in Penal Colony No. 7 in the village of Sosnovka, Republic of Mordovia, Russia. On his birthday, we urge everyone to join the Letters to a Free Crimea initiative by sending him a letter of support or writing to other Crimean political prisoners whom Russia continues to illegally detain, either on its territory or in occupied Crimea.

There is no doubt that very soon, Marlen (Suleiman) Asanov, along with all other Ukrainian political prisoners, will celebrate his birthday in a free and Ukrainian Crimea.