The defendant in the so-called second Simferopol Hizb ut-Tahrir case in Simferopol, Remzi Bekirov, said during a so-called court session in the Southern District Military Court that he was being persecuted on ethnic and religious grounds, as well as for his journalistic activities. This was reported by the Crimean Solidarity public association.
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“After 2016, I covered the searches and arrests in Crimea, and I associate my being behind bars with this. I am persecuted on ethnic and religious grounds, as well as for my journalistic activities”,- he said.
The political prisoner stressed that this is how pressure is exerted on the active community in Crimea: human rights defenders, journalists and bloggers.
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.