Russian court upholds sentence to political prisoner Raif Fevziev

The Military Court of Appeal of the city of Vlasikha upheld the sentence of Imam Raif Fevziev. This was reported by Edem Semedlyayev in a commentary for Crimean Solidarity.

At the court session, Fevziev, a Crimean Tatar activist, made a last speech, where he called his case, as well as other politically motivated criminal proceedings, “a defeat of the judicial system”.

“Hoping that the judicial system is not as unsurpassed as it should be, I tried to objectively prove my innocence as much as possible,” – he said.

According to Liana Fevzieva, the political prisoner’s wife, her husband was kept in a cell with four people convicted of murder. Due to poor conditions of detention, insufficient food and lack of medical care, he developed numerous diseases. During the year of his imprisonment, Fevziev developed problems with his blood pressure, cardiovascular system, pancreas, gastrointestinal tract and nervous system. His treatment was inadequate – doctors prescribed antibiotics without conducting a basic examination, and his family sent him the necessary medicines.

The main testimony against the political prisoner was given by the so-called “secret witnesses”, in particular, a person with the pseudonym “Ismailov”. According to the lawyer Edem Semedlyayev, different people spoke in the case under this pseudonym. The prosecution could not ensure the appearance of the witness in court, as it could not find the person who testified at the preliminary investigation, and therefore replaced him with another person.

As a reminder, Raif Fevziev was sentenced to 17 years in prison on January 12, 2023 in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case. The arrest took place on August 17, 2021, under Article 205.5, parts 1 and 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which relates to participation in terrorist activities.