Four years ago, on March 11, 2020, Russian security forces conducted massive searches in Crimea. As a result, Osman Seytumerov, Seytumer Seytumerov, Amet Suleymanov and Rustem Seitmemetov were detained. They were accused of participating in the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, banned in the Russian Federation, and charged with Part 2 of Article 205. of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Participation in the activities of a terrorist organization”.
On October 29, 2021, a Russian court announced the sentences of the political prisoners. Amet Suleymanov will spend 12 years in captivity, of which the first 3.5 years will be spent in prison, and then in a maximum security colony. Given that Amet has a severe heart condition, staying behind bars could cost him his life.
The court also sentenced Seytumer Seytumerov to 17 years, Osman Seytumerov to 14 years, and Rustem Seitmemetov to 13 years in prison.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center considers the accusation of representatives of the Crimean Tatar people, citizens of Ukraine Amet Suleymanov, Seytumer and Osman Seytumerov and Rustem Seitmemetov in “terrorist activities” illegal, and their conviction is a gross violation of international law, which prohibits the application of occupation legislation to the population of the occupied territories.
We believe that these “sentences” are aimed at intimidating and destroying Ukrainian citizens who do not agree with the policy of the occupiers in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center expresses its strong protest against the repressions of the occupiers and demands the immediate release of all political prisoners from places of detention in Russia and in the occupied territories of Ukraine.