More than 60 Crimean political prisoners are already in need of urgent medical care, two of them died in Russian prisons due to the lack of help, First Deputy Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, former political prisoner Nariman Dzhelal has said.

"According to the calculations of our human rights activists, 60 of our Crimean political prisoners need urgent medical care, although everyone has medical problems. It is because of the lack of medical care that two Crimean political prisoners died in prison: Dzhemil Gafarov and Kostiantyn Shyrinh," he said at the Second International Conference "Crimea Global. Understanding Ukraine through the South" in Kyiv on Thursday.

Dzhelal also noted that there are 218 people in occupied Crimea who are officially recognized by human rights activists as Crimean political prisoners, and 132 of them are Crimean Tatars.

"And this is only official data," he emphasized.

"Repressive policy, not stopping for a minute all the years of occupation with the beginning of full-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine in 2022, has acquired an extraordinary scope. Today, no citizen of Ukraine in Crimea can feel safe and be sure that, if necessary, they will be able to protect their rights and their life," the First Deputy Head of the Mejlis said.

He also emphasized that free journalism in Crimea is destroyed, journalists succumb to repression.

"There are 18 Crimean journalists illegally staying behind bars," Dzhelal said.