Nariman Celal
Detained: September 5, 2021.
Charges: Allegedly sabotaging the use of a gas pipeline in the village of Perevalne, Crimea in August 2021.
Sentence: None
Biography: Nariman Celal (also spelled Dzhelal) is the deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, the highest governing body. He is also a former TV newscaster and a correspondent of the Avdet newspaper; he has worked as a professor of history and law. Celal has served as the de facto president of the Mejlis since the official one was banned from entering his homeland. Celal was abducted during a raid in September 2021 and later tortured in an attempt to get him to confess to sabotaging a pipeline. He was also forced to undergo a brutal psychiatric evaluation. The extent of the torture undergone in prison is unknown, but may have been severe. His case has not yet gone to trial.
Advocate: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ, Ret.)
Advocacy Partner: PEN America
Nariman Celal was RELEASED as part of a prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia on June 28, 2024.
Updates:
- On September 21, 2022, a Russian court sentenced Nariman Celal was sentenced to 17 years in prison and fined 700,000 Russian rubles. During the same trial Asan Akhmetov was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 500,000 Russian rubles and his brother, Aziz Akhmetov, was sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined 500,000 Russian rubles (September 21, 2022, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine).
- 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 Celal (March 18, 2023, Senate Foreign Relations Committee).
- On July 28, 2023 the Third Court of Appeals of the Common Jurisdiction in Sochi rejected an appeal filed by Nariman Celal, Asan Akhmetov and his brother Aziz. During this proceeding the court also ordered that the three spend the "first three years of their terms in cells and the rest of the time in penal colonies" (July 28, 2023, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty).
- During his remarks at the Third Summit of the International Crimea Platform, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the release of Nariman Celal, Vladyslav Yesypenko, Server Mustafayev, and Iryna Danylovych (August 23, 2023, Ukrinform).
- On May 30, 2024, the Media Initiative for Human Rights, a Ukrainian-based organization, reported that 31 Ukrainian journalists continued to be detained in Russia, including all 14 Crimean Journalists included in the Defending Freedoms Project at the time of publication (Ukrainska Pravda, May 30, 2024).
- Nariman Celal was released in a Vatican-mediated prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia on June 28, 2024 (June 29, 2024, Associated Press). According to social media posts by Turkish news outlet Kırım Haber Ajansı, Celal was reunited with his family in Kyiv on July 6, 2024 (July 6, 2024, @qha_kirimhaber via X; @zudiyeva via X).
- On December 20, 2024, Nariman Celal was appointed Ukraine’s ambassador to Türkiye by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (January 28, 2025, Al Jazeera).