On November 24, 2022, another trial of five Ukrainian citizens, representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, took place in Rostov-on-Don on charges of terrorist activities and an attempt to seize power (the so-called Hizb ut-Tahrir case), who were detained by Russian security forces in March 2019.
The Southern District Military Court of the Russian Federation illegally sentenced:
1. Enver Ametov (47 years old, builder) to 13 years in a strict regime colony;
2. Yashar Muedinov (54 years old, builder) to 13 years in a strict regime colony;
3. Rustem Sheikhaliev (43 years old, assistant cook) to 14 years in a strict regime colony;
4. Osman Arifmemetov (37 years old, teacher of mathematics and computer science) to 14 years in a strict regime colony;
5. Ruslan Suleymanov (39 years old, programmer), whom the court appointed as organizer, to 14 years in a strict regime colony.
Political prisoners will spend 4 years in prison, and then another 1 year will be restricted in their freedom of movement.
All political prisoners denied all false accusations and rightly consider their persecution to be political.
The accusation in this so-called case is traditionally based on the testimony of hidden witnesses and the conclusions of so-called experts actively cooperating with the Russian punitive system.
This so-called case is illegal, since Crimea is the occupied territory of Ukraine and, in accordance with the norms of international law, in particular the IV Geneva Convention, the legislation of the occupier cannot be applied in the occupied territory of Crimea.
In this regard, any evidence in the case has no legal force and can in no way confirm any guilt.
At the same time, illegally detained citizens of Ukraine were systematically restricted in their right to freedom and personal integrity, to a fair trial, to an effective remedy, to respect for private and family life, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of expression, were subjected to inhumane treatment that degrades human dignity.
Thus, the defendants were denied the right, provided for by the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure, to explain themselves in their native language, as a result of which the court forbade Osman Arifmemetov and Ruslan Suleymanov to speak the last word in the Crimean Tatar language.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center strongly protests and declares that this yet another criminal, politically motivated decision is a manifestation of an attempt to put pressure on the Crimean Tatar people.
Such a policy of Russia is a demonstration of the fight against dissent, religious and political beliefs of the inhabitants of the occupied Crimea and testifies to the ongoing repressions against the indigenous peoples of the Crimean peninsula.
The Russian Federation misuses its legislation for political purposes, in particular to suppress the non-violent struggle of the Crimean Tatars and their protest against the occupation of Crimea.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center demands the annulment of the sentences against the defendants in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case and the immediate release of all political prisoners.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center calls on the leadership of Ukraine and the countries participating in the Crimean Platform, the international community to increase pressure on Russia in order to stop political persecution in Crimea, to release Ukrainian citizens illegally convicted for political reasons from Russian prisons, including to strengthen personal sanctions against persons responsible for human rights violations on the territory of Crimea.