NGO Crimean Solidarity reports that on Wednesday, July 24, Crimean ‘police’ approached their journalist, Emin Rustemov, to testify on his presence on 11 July 2019 near the Supreme Court of Russian Federation in Moscow, where the protest was held in support of the defendants in the Bakhchysarai ‘Hizb ut-Tahrir’ case.
The ‘police’ visited Emin in his own house in the city of Stary Krym. The journalist referred to article 51 of the RF Constitution. Here is his statement:
“They arrived to take my testimony about my presence on July 11, 2019, in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in Moscow, where the protest was held in support of unlawfully detained Crimean Tatar Muslims of “Hizb-ut-Tahrir’ case. That day, forty-six people, including myself, were arrested. The police were dressed in civil clothes. They started approaching me without a warrant, without explaining me my rights and without referring me to the relevant article. They started asking me such questions as “when were you there?”, “why”, etc. After consulting my lawyer, I decided to use the article 51 of the RF Constitution. They left my house after I gave them my written statement, where I indicated the mentioned article”.
On July 10, Crimean Tatar activists organized a protest on the Red Square in Moscow against the prosecutions in the occupied Crimea. The posters carried by activists said “Stop ethnic and religious discrimination”, “Fight with terrorism in Crimea is a fight with dissidents”, “Our children are not terrorists”. Right after the beginning of the protest, seven people were arrested by Russian police officers. On July 11, forty-six more people were arrested near the Supreme Court, where the appeal proceeding was carried out with regard to the defendants in the Bakhchysarai ‘Hizb ut-Tahrir’ case.