The mayor of Hola Prystan, kidnapped by Russian occupiers in March 2022, Oleksandr Babych is currently being held in SIZO-2 in the city of Taganrog in Russia.
This was reported by Zarema Barieva, manager of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center.
According to people who crossed paths with Babych in places of detention, he was held in various pre-trial detention centers in temporarily occupied Crimea. Information about his whereabouts over the years reached his family only through unofficial channels — through notes written on bits of toilet paper with one or two phrases and oral messages from other detainees.
In mid-June 2025 a group of civilian hostages and Ukrainian prisoners of war were transferred from SIZO-2 Simferopol to SIZO-2 Taganrog. During this transfer, former Ukrainian prisoner of war Leonid met Oleksandr Babych and spent several days in the same cell with him.
According to Leonid, over almost four years of unlawful detention Babych’s health has significantly deteriorated: he lost about half of his body weight and has problems with blood pressure. At the same time, no official charges have been brought against him. As Leonid notes, the reason for the persecution was Babych’s refusal to cooperate with the occupation authorities and his public pro-Ukrainian stance.
After three days in Taganrog the Ukrainian prisoners of war were transferred further, and later they were released as part of an exchange. The civilian hostages, including Oleksandr Babych, remained in SIZO-2 Taganrog.
Recall that Oleksandr Babych was kidnapped by Russian forces on March 28, 2022 at around 8 a.m. from his own home in Hola Prystan. After that he disappeared without official status, charges, or a verdict and for a long time was held by the Russian side in incommunicado conditions.
As of today Oleksandr Babych has been in captivity for almost four years, of which about seven months have been in Taganrog, without the status of an accused or convicted person.
It is known that on the eve of the kidnapping of the mayor of Hola Prystan Oleksandr Babych he was threatened by People’s Deputy Oleksiy Kovalov. Deputy mayor Linnik stated that on February 24, 2022 Kovalov called her and said: “Tell your boss that sleepless days and nights are beginning for him”.