Linguists found no incitement to violence in the conversations of the Hizb ut-Tahrir case

October 22, 2020

On Thursday, October 22, at the Southern District Military Court in Russia, a hearing was held on the so-called Alushta Hizb-ut-Tahrir case, during which linguists, after examining the audio files, stated that they did not find signs of inciting ethnic hatred, as well as calls for violence. This was reported by the Crimean Solidarity public association.

It is noted that the linguistic research did not reveal signs of inciting ethnic hatred, as well as incitement to violence, relying mainly on agitation and propaganda.

“The religious scholar established that meetings were held between Muslims, during which specific terms were used, and ideas were expressed about the need to establish an Islamic Caliphate, where a certain M (most likely, Mesutov is meant) appears as a leader and spiritual mentor. The specialist also did not find incitement to ethnic hatred and incitement to violence, but he found that the defendants belong to the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, which is banned on the territory of the Russian Federation”,- the message says.

We remind that on June 10, Russian security forces conducted mass searches in the dwellings of Crimean Tatars in Alushta, Bilohirsk and Simferopol. As a result, 8 people were detained on suspicion of their involvement in the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization banned in the Russian Federation. On June 10 and 11, the so-called Kyiv District Court of Simferopol chose a preventive measure in the form of detention until August 5 for the Crimean Tatars detained after searches – Riza Omerov, Enver Omerov, Ayder Dzhepparov, Eskender Suleimanov, Ruslan Nagaev, Eldar Kantimirov, Ruslan Mensutov and Lenur Khalilov. On October 31, the so-called Kyiv District Court of Simferopol once again extended their arrest until February 5, 2020.

The Crimean Tatar Resource Center calls on the international community, international human rights organizations to increase pressure on the Russian Federation and the occupation authorities of Crimea in order to stop political persecution and cancel the previously issued court decisions.