The Isakogorsky District Court in Arkhangelsk refused on October 21 to release 58-year-old Crimean Tatar prisoner Lenur Khalilov on medical grounds. Khalilov is serving an 18-year sentence over alleged involvement with Hizb ut-Tahrir. A medical commission had determined that his illness prevented him from serving his sentence under ordinary prison conditions, but the court considered his release premature.
The decision was reported by Novaya Gazeta Europe, which obtained the court ruling.
Khalilov has been diagnosed with stage IV liver cancer with metastases. According to the medical report, his illness continued to progress in October, with the tumor growing and new metastases appearing.
Doctors said he required constant care and treatment at a specialized medical facility and could not be held under ordinary correctional conditions.
His defense team argued that he had not received his prescribed anticancer treatment for four months. According to Khalilov's representatives, he can no longer walk or care for himself independently.
Representatives of Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service gave the court a different assessment. A prison medical official described his condition as stable and moderately severe. A correctional facility representative claimed that Khalilov could walk, eat and manage without outside assistance.
The court said that having a disease included on the official list of conditions qualifying prisoners for possible release did not automatically require his release.
The ruling also cited Khalilov's negative prison assessment, 19 disciplinary violations and 44 preventive interviews. The judge referred to his placement on a preventive monitoring register and concluded that releasing him could undermine the purposes of his punishment.
Khalilov previously headed the independent Alushta Muslim community in Russian-annexed Crimea. In 2021, a Russian court sentenced him to 18 years in prison in a Hizb ut-Tahrir case. The human rights initiative Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial recognizes him as a political prisoner.
He had already been released on medical grounds in August 2025. He returned to Crimea and began treatment, but prosecutors appealed the decision, after which he was taken back into custody.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee previously called for Khalilov to receive necessary medical treatment and, if it could not be provided in detention, to be allowed to receive treatment outside prison.
The new court decision means Khalilov remains in custody despite a medical finding that he cannot be held under ordinary correctional conditions.