Franziska Davies, Associate Professor at the Department of Eastern and East Central European History at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, has become a mentor to one of the youngest Crimean political prisoners, Appaz Kurtamet. This is part of the advocacy mentorship initiative launched by Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the support of the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The initiative aims to draw international attention to the illegal detention of Ukrainian citizens in places of captivity across the Russian Federation and to support their struggle for freedom and the protection of fundamental human rights.

“Appaz Kurtamet is one of the youngest political prisoners abducted by Russia. He will turn 23 in August. Appaz was arrested in the summer of 2022 in Kherson by the Russian occupiers. In June 2023, he was sentenced to seven years in prison. He is currently being held in the Pskov region in Russia…. He is being illegally held and must be released immediately. In Russia, he is being subjected to torture. His human rights are being violated. Please share the story of  Appaz Kurtmaet and other prisoners.” Franziska Davies wrote on her social media. 

Appaz Kurtamet was detained at the Chonhar checkpoint and sent to a filtration camp, where occupation administration, after checking his phone, discovered that an acquaintance to whom he had lent 500 hryvnias in the summer of 2022 was serving in the volunteer Crimea battalion. This was used as a pretext to accuse him of “financing an illegal armed group.” According to the ruling of an unlawful court, he is serving the first year of his sentence in prison, with the remainder to be spent in a high-security penal colony.

As part of the advocacy mentorship initiative, Franziska Davies also wrote a letter of support to Appaz Kurtamet, expressing solidarity and reminding him that his fate is known and being discussed at the international level.

Franziska Davies will continue to support Appaz Kurtamet as his mentor, including by drawing international attention to the systemic human rights violations taking place in temporarily occupied Crimea and throughout the territory of the Russian Federation.