The Southern District Military Court, controlled by the Russian Federation, despite all the arguments of the defense, extended the detention of four Crimean political prisoners: Aziz Azizov, Memet Lumanov, Rustem Osmanov, and Mustafa Abduramanov until April 7, 2026. The court’s decision was reported by the lawyer Emil Kurbedinov to Crimean Solidarity.
According to the lawyer, the judges ignored all evidence indicating the possibility of changing the preventive measure to house arrest.
“The prosecutor made further assumptions that our clients could allegedly flee, influence secret witnesses, destroy evidence, and so on. In my speech, I and other lawyers noted that the prosecution consistently fails to provide evidence for its assumptions and that these are only guesses,” Kurbedinov emphasized.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for January 13, 2026, where the so-called “secret witness” is expected to testify—a tool that Russian security forces systematically use to fabricate charges against Crimean Tatars.
It should be recalled that the men were illegally detained by Russian occupiers on March 5, 2024, on charges of participating in the “sixth Bakhchisaray group” in the “Hizb ut-Tahrir” case.
Photo: “Crimean Solidarity”