Volodymyr Balukh

Balukh's home was subject to two raids by the Russian police in 2015 alone, with the latter search resulting in his arrest. Following his first arrest, he was beaten and imprisoned for ten days, and subsequently sentenced to 320 hours of community service for allegedly insulting a police officer and stealing spare parts for a tractor in a neighboring village.^[7]

On 9 December 2016, Russian law enforcement officers raided Balukh's house again. The hour-long search resulted in Balukh's repeated arrest, after the FSB claimed to have found 90 cartridges and several explosives in his attic.^[8] The local Russian-installed court of the Rozdolne district extended his pre-trial detention multiple times.^[9]

Despite the lack of evidence and the court's refusal to investigate the origin of the confiscated ammunition, Balukh was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison and a 10,000 rouble fine. On 19 March 2018, he entered a hunger strike. On 5 June, his prison sentence was extended to five years. Many Crimean human rights organizations criticized the decision, calling Balukh a de facto political prisoner.^[10]

On 7 September 2019, he was released from captivity as part of a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.^[11]

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Balukh and many other exiled Crimean activists joined the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including Olexandr Kolchenko, Oleh Sentsov, Pavlo Kazarin, Serhiy Kostynskyi, Oleksandr Liev and Ismail Ramazanov.^[12] In 2026, Balukh was reportedly beaten at a military recruitment center in Kyiv. The Kyiv City Territorial Center for Recruiting and Social Support said that Balukh was a "violator of military registration" but denied that its personnel had abused him.^[13]