In the occupied Crimea, the preliminary investigation of the so-called second Simferopol Hizb ut-Tahrir case has been completed. All those involved in the so-called case were divided into five groups of 5 people each. This was reported by the Crimean Solidarity public association.
“This is some kind of quasi-legal procedure, because according to the charges they trace an integral group of 29 people, four of whom are on the wanted list. The investigation says that this will not affect the comprehensiveness and objectivity of the consideration of the case. We see an example of the so-called Bakhchisaray Eight from which it is clear that the court can hardly consider the case of eight people”,- said lawyer Alexei Ladin.
The defender stressed that these actions greatly complicate the work. For example, each witness will have to be interrogated five times. In every testimony of the same witness there may be discrepancies, and then the court will have to analyze all of this.
We remind that on March 27, 2019, Russian security forces in the occupied Crimea carried out mass searches in 26 Crimean Tatars' dwellings. Literature was seized from some activists, which, according to Crimean Solidarity, the security forces planted themselves. In addition to books and brochures, people were confiscated phones, tablets, laptops, passports. The servicemen behaved rudely. It is reported that they used physical force against detainees and entered the houses in shoes. Lawyers who arrived at the site of the searches were not allowed to contact the detainees. According to the results of the searches, 20 people were suspected of involvement in the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, which is banned in the Russian Federation. On March 28, three more Crimean Tatar activists were detained, in whose dwellings searches were carried out in their absence. On March 27-28, the occupation court arrested all 23 detainees after searches. They chose a preventive measure in the form of detention. Subsequently, all the individuals involved in this so-called case were repeatedly extended the terms of their arrest.