The defendants of the “Hizb ut-Tahrir case” Ruslan Mesutov, Lenur Khalilov, Ruslan Nagaev, Eldar Kantimirov, and Asan Yanikov are undergoing a forensic psychiatric examination. This was reported by Crimean Solidarity organization with reference to the lawyer Islyam Velilyaev.
The lawyer noted that on September 20 he had visited his client Ruslan Nagaev in the Crimean Republican Clinical Psychiatric Hospital No. 1.
"I visited him on Friday. His health is satisfactory. However, he considers this a mandatory procedure and refuses to take any medications that were prescribed to him in the hospital. He considers himself a mentally healthy person who had no head injuries and who was not registered with a narcologist and psychiatrist. He will tentatively stay there until October 12-13, 2019," the report said.
Islyam Velilyaev explains that his client was placed in a psychiatric hospital so that he would be under round-the-clock surveillance.
"He was placed in a hospital because we refused to give evidence on an outpatient basis (this is a consolidated position and common practice of all Crimean political prisoners), therefore, investigators, given the terms of punishment, should, in their opinion, receive evidence that the person is mentally healthy and can be prosecuted. For this, they placed him in a psychiatric hospital so that he would be under round-the-clock surveillance," the lawyer added.
Previously, on June 10, Russian security forces conducted mass searches in the Crimean Tatars' households in Alushta, Belogorsk, and Simferopol. As a result, 8 people were detained on suspicion of involvement in the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization that is banned in the Russian Federation. On 10 and 11 June, Kyiv district "court" in Simferopol ruled to detain until August 5 Crimean Tatars arrested after searches – Riza Omerov, Enver Omerov, Ayder Dzhepparov, Eskender Suleymanov, Ruslan Nagaev, Eldar Kantimirov, Ruslan Mensutov, and Lenur Khalilov. Asan Yanikov was detained on March 27, 2019, during mass searches in the households of Crimean Tatars.