Marlen Asanov
Detained Since: October 11, 2017.
Charges: Organizing terrorist operations (Article 205.5).
Sentence: 19 years in prison.
Biography: Marlen Asanov is a citizen journalist and professional teacher of Crimean Tatar language and literature. In 2002, he founded the Salachyk Caravanserai, a Crimean Tatar center for culture and ethnographic research. When the annexation of Crimea began, Asanov began working as a citizen journalist, providing assistance to families of political prisoners, and recording the problems families of prisoners' face.
In the spring of 2017, Russian security agents came to Asanov's home with a search warrant and claimed that Asanov was involved with organizing the operations of a terrorist organization and preparing a coup d'état. In September 2020, he was sentenced to 19 years of imprisonment in a high security prison. On March 14, 2022, his appeal was rejected. He is soon to be transferred to a high security prison in the Russian Federation.
Advocacy Partner: PEN America
Past Advocate: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ, Ret.)
Updates:
- On December 14, 2022, it was reported that Marlen Asanov had been transferred to a prison facility in the Republic of Mordovia region in Russia. Others, such as Server Mustafayev, Seyran Saliev, and Timur Ibragimov were similarly transferred to prison facilities located in Russian regions distant from Crimea (December 16, 2022, Ukrainska Pravda).
- Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) released a statement on March 18, 2023, calling for the release of all 14 Crimean Journalists in the Defending Freedoms Project, including Asanov (March 18, 2023, Senate Foreign Relations Committee).