The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation did not satisfy the cassation appeal of Vadym Bektemyrov, Master of Islamic Sciences and Arabic Philology, and upheld his sentence.
This was reported by Crimean Solidarity with reference to lawyer Emil Kurbedinov.
Emil Kurbedinov noted that in the cassation in the case of Bektemyrov, the court did not accept the arguments of the defence that under the current legislation of the Russian Federation, Hizb ut-Tahrir has not been recognised as a terrorist organisation since 2006 and it is not such a terrorist organisation.
“The FSB is simply carrying out political repression under the auspices of the fight against terrorism, simply arresting and imprisoning religious figures and activists for long periods of time,” – said Emil Kurbedinov.
Also, according to the lawyer, his client, who is currently serving his sentence in penal colony No. 6 in St. Petersburg, said that he feels satisfactory, “as far as possible in prison.” For more than six months, he has been held in a cell-type facility. The guards confiscated Vadym’s religious literature and diaries. The Crimean Tatar sent complaints about this to the colony administration and the prosecutor’s office, but received no response.
To recap, Bektemyrov was arrested on 7 July 2020 after massive searches in Crimea. He was accused of participating in the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir.
On 11 February 2022, the Southern District Military Court sentenced the religious scholar to 11 years in a strict regime colony.