The health of Crimean Tatar Bekir Gugurik from Henichesk, who is being unlawfully held in Correctional Colony No. 8 in the city of Ulan-Ude (Buryatia, Russian Federation), has critically deteriorated.
This was reported by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center.
According to them, due to a lack of adequate medical care the man has almost completely lost hearing in one ear, and without urgent intervention he faces complete deafness.
In addition, the prisoner suffers from hypertension and constant shortness of breath, but the institution’s administration does not provide the necessary medications. The results of the heart examination conducted in the autumn for Rustem and his family were concealed. Also, due to the absence of dental care he was forced to remove his dental bridges himself, which severely complicated eating.
It is noted that Gugurik is in a cell together with 80 people in conditions of extremely low temperatures, and the delivery of parcels with medications and food from Ukraine is effectively blocked.
Despite pressure from the Russians, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center writes that Rustem Gugurik refused an offer to obtain a Russian passport, stressing his Ukrainian citizenship.
The occupiers arrested Rustem Gugurik on March 27, 2022 on charges of participating in the volunteer battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhikhan. On October 26, 2022 the man was sentenced to 8.5 years in a strict-regime penal colony.
The political prisoner’s health deteriorated as early as last November. According to his wife, at that time another 74 people were being held in the cell with him.