The Supreme Court of the occupied Crimea upheld the decision of the Kyiv District Court of Simferopol to extend the arrest of activists Aziz Azizov and Mustafa Abduramanov. The residents of Bakhchisarai will remain in the pre-trial detention center until November 4, 2024. This was reported by lawyer Emil Kurbedinov, UNN reports with reference to the Crimean Solidarity.
In court, the political prisoners denied their guilt and involvement in terrorist activities. Aziz Azizov stated that he was not a criminal and was "known in the city as a person who organized holidays for children".
Lawyer Emil Kurbedinov considers the persecution of Crimean Tatars under these criminal articles illegal.
"Today, according to the federal law on counterterrorism, Hizb ut-Tahrir has not been recognized as a terrorist organization, and it is absolutely illegal to file these cases under this guise. That is, in essence, it is the persecution of people without law, a kind of feudal system. Even in those days, they somehow adhered to papers, decrees, and laws. In this case, without any legal grounds at all, people are simply being persecuted on far-fetched grounds under the sauce of "fighting terrorism," the defense lawyer commented.
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On the morning of March 5, security forces searched the homes of 10 Crimean Tatars in the Bakhchisaray and Dzhankoy districts of occupied Crimea. On the same day, the court imposed a pre-trial restraint on four of them - Crimean Tatar activists Memet Lumanov, Aziz Azizov, Rustem Osmanov and Mustafa Abduramanov. They were sent to SIZO #2 until May 4, 2024.
Later, the court sent the detained residents of Dzhankoy and Dzhankoy district - Enver Khalilayev, Nariman Ametov, Ali Mamutov, imam of the mosque in Lobanovo village Vahid Mustafayev and activist Arsen Kashko - to the pre-trial detention center. Former imam Remzi Kurtnezirov was placed under house arrest due to numerous illnesses. All ten arrested are accused of participating in the Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is banned in Russia. Many of the detainees are parents in large families.
In Russia, its organization has been banned since 2003. In Ukraine and most countries of the world, it operates without restrictions at the level of national legislation. The first arrests under this category of criminal cases in Crimea began in 2015, when Russian legislation was enforced on the peninsula.