On 17 February 2021, detained and on the same day taken into custody on charges of organising activities of a terrorist organisation in connection with alleged involvement in the Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has no connection to terrorism. On 22 March 2022, he was sentenced to 17 years in a strict regime colony. In November 2023, it became known that in prison Yalkabov was forced to shave his head and then tried to force to wash it under cold water in a sink. Prior to that, Yalkabov reported that after his transfer to the quarantine room he started to lose personal hygiene items.