Life before the detention
Marlen Ramisovych Mustafayev was born on March 11, 1988, in the city of Namangan, Uzbekistan. In 1989, he returned to Crimea with his family, where he lived in Karasubazar (now Bilohirsk).
As an adult, Marlen worked in vehicle maintenance, repairing and selling auto parts. He was known as a responsible professional who was diligent in his work. He is married and, together with his wife, is raising two minor daughters.
In addition to his work, Marlen was active in his community. He supported his fellow countrymen, attended court hearings in cases of Crimean Tatar political prisoners, provided aid to them and their families, and personally visited families to support them in difficult circumstances.
Persecution
In 2017, Marlen Mustafayev participated in a one-man picket with the slogan “Crimean Tatars are not terrorists,” for which the occupiers fined him. His family believes that this marked the beginning of his persecution. In September 2021, he also protested outside a courthouse to support political prisoner Nariman Dzhelial.
On February 9, 2022, Russian security forces broke into his home to conduct a search and subsequently detained him. During his transfer to Simferopol, Marlen was subjected to psychological and physical pressure. They put a bag over his head, threatened him with a weapon, and tried to force him to handle books planted by FSB officers to leave his fingerprints on them.
Marlen refused to do so. During the search, his wife’s Ukrainian documents were also confiscated and never returned.
Behind the Bars
On November 30, 2022, a Russian “court” in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Marlen Mustafayev to 16 years and 8 months of imprisonment in a strict-regime colony. After an appeal, the verdict was upheld with a minor reduction in his sentence.
After his detention, he was held in Pre-trial Detention Center No. 1 in Simferopol, where he faced degrading treatment, partly due to the occupiers’ hatred of Crimean Tatars. He was later transferred to Rostov-on-Don, and after the verdict, to Novocherkassk, where he remained until his appeal was heard.
At the end of 2023, Marlen Mustafayev was moved to another Russian city, Dimitrovgrad, where he was held in a closed-type prison. Later, on March 11, 2025, he was transferred to the Krasnoyarsk Krai, which his family learned about only several months later.
In the colony, Marlen was placed in a punishment cell (SHIZO), including during a so-called quarantine. According to his relatives, punishments were imposed even for performing namaz (prayer). His health deteriorated due to these conditions. His family emphasizes that his repeated transfers were carried out under harsh conditions, and his detention far from Crimea is a form of additional pressure and isolation.
On June 11, 2025, Marlen Mustafayev was informed that documents had been filed for the “termination of his RF citizenship.” The occupying administration also tried to force him to write a dictation in Russian, interpreting his refusal as a “violation.”