On this day, the Ukrainian Canadian Students’ Union (SUSK) announces that we have joined the Advocacy Mentorship Initiative for Crimean Political Prisoners, launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine with the support of the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea//Office of the Crimea Platform. As part of this program, SUSK has become a mentor to three young Ukrainians who are unjustly imprisoned by the Russian Federation for their pro-Ukrainian views, activism, or identity.
Andrii Kuliievych, born in 2000, worked as a construction laborer in Sevastopol. In 2020, he and others distributed leaflets against the Russian government. He was sentenced to 7.5 years in a penal colony under charges of “terrorism” and “illegal possession of explosives.”
Kurtamet Appaz, born in 2002, is a Crimean Tatar who worked in IT and volunteered in Kyiv before his arrest. He also taught the Crimean Tatar language at a cultural center. In July 2022, he was detained and sentenced to 7 years in prison after Russian authorities linked him to a friend serving in a volunteer battalion.
Abdulmedzhyt Seitumerov, born in 1999, is a Crimean Tatar activist and father of young children. He was charged with “participation in a terrorist organization” and remains imprisoned in Rostov-on-Don. His case reflects the systemic repression of Crimean Tatars in occupied Crimea.
According to the Mission, there are currently over 220 political prisoners, most of them representatives of Ukraine’s Indigenous people, the Crimean Tatars. In addition to these cases, the Russian occupiers are persecuting civilians for other forms of resistance, with young people making up a significant number of those targeted.
Their only “crime” is standing with Ukraine, practicing their faith, or defending democratic values.
Through this mentorship, SUSK will share their stories, raise awareness in Canada, and amplify calls for their freedom. Our mission is not only to support these young men but also to be their voice across thousands of kilometres.
