As we continue our initiative to write letters to Crimean political prisoners, Letters to a Free Crimea, we are pleased to introduce you to another prisoner of the Kremlin. Today, on May 27, Crimean Tatar Bilal Adilov, a local imam, celebrates his birthday behind bars. He was born in Hamza, Uzbekistan, and moved to Crimea in 1990. He worked as a construction worker in Simferopol.

In one of his letters, the political prisoner wrote that immediately after the arrival of Russia, he felt oppression, so he could not stand aside:

“Murders began, Crimean Tatars went missing and were arrested, accused of extremism and terrorism. I didn’t care, because again, just like in 1944, when they accused the Crimean Tatar people of treason and labeled them ‘enemies of the people’, falsely accusing the public, they want to label them terrorists. My people immediately realized that this is a new form of deportation, which is manifested in intimidation to make us voluntarily leave Crimea.”

Bilyal not only publicly prayed for political prisoners, but also constantly came to the trials of other prisoners of the Kremlin, which attracted the interest of the occupation “law enforcement”. The political prisoner is one of 24 Crimean Tatar activists who were arrested on March 27, 2019, during mass searches in Simferopol. Adilov’s family claims that during the search, the occupation forces planted three new publications banned in the Russian Federation – “System of Government in Islam”, “Caliphate” and one of the issues of “Al Wai” magazine.

The man was on a dry hunger strike because of the inadequate conditions of detention in SIZO No. 1 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. In his cell, he began to suffocate due to excessive humidity. To attract attention, he tore the wires in the cell, after which he was placed in a pre-trial detention center for 15 days.

The case is still being considered. In May, it became known that the Court of Appeal in Vlasys did not allow to interrogate experts and witnesses in the case of five Crimean political prisoners, including Bilal Adilov.

Bilal Adilov is married and has six children: four daughters and two sons.

We urge you to support Bilal Adilov and write him a letter as part of the initiative “Letters to a free Crimea”. More than 180 other political prisoners, who are illegally detained in the occupied Crimea or deported to the territory of the Russian Federation, need words of support.

Instructions for writing letters can be found at: https://cutt.ly/e5IoS7o