On Monday, August 10, during a so-called court session in the Southern District Military Court, defendants in the so-called second Bakhchisaray Hizb ut-Tahrir case Edem Smailov and Server Mustafayev challenged the entire composition of the Russian court due to the refusal to interrogate defense witnesses. This was reported by the Crimean Solidarity public association.
It is noted that the court decided to reject those who give “characterizing testimony” because, in the opinion of the court, such testimony from the defense is “already enough”.
“I see this as pressure and denial of the right to defense. For 10 months we listened to the evidence of the prosecution. For almost a year now we have been subordinate to you. 8 defenders and 8 defendants have much less time and opportunities to exercise their rights. Therefore, I declare a challenge to the entire composition of the court”,-Mustafayev said.
We remind that on October 11, 2017, in the city of Bakhchisaray, the invaders carried out mass searches in 6 dwellings of Crimean Tatars – Marlen Asanov, Seyran Saliiev, Timur Ibrahimov, Memet Belyalov, Ernest Ametov, Server Zakiryaev. Everyone was detained. They were charged under Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Participation in the activities of an organization which, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, is recognized as terrorist”.
On May 21, 2018, Russian security forces raided the dwellings of activists of the Crimean Solidarity public association in the occupied Crimea, as a result of which Server Mustafayev and Edem Smailov were detained. They were also accused of their membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation, which is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation.
In February 2019, a criminal case was opened against eight individuals involved in the so-called second Bakhchisaray Hizb ut-Tahrir case – Marlen Asanov, Seyran Saliiev, Timur Ibrahimov, Memet Belyalov, Ernest Ametov, Server Zakiryaev, Server Mustafayev and Edem Smailov (“Violent seizure of power or violent retention of power”).
On March 5, it became known that the two defendants in the so-called second Bakhchysarai Hizb ut-Tahrir case – Timur Ibrahimov and Memet Belyalov – had their charge tightened from part two of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code (“participation in the activities of a terrorist organization”) to the part one (“organization of the activities of a terrorist organization”).