In the annexed Crimea, 26 Crimean Tatars were arrested, who came to the courthouse, where they chose a measure of restraint for six Crimeans in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case, the Crimean Solidarity human rights association reports.
Decisions on administrative arrests for a period of ten to 16 days for detainees, as specified by human rights activists, were made in three district courts of Simferopol: Central, Kiev and Zheleznodorozhny. The courts imputed to all the detainees the same article – “on the organization of a mass simultaneous stay of citizens, which entailed a violation of public order” (Article 20.2.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).
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After the court rulings were announced, all those arrested were taken to the temporary detention facility in Simferopol.
The security forces detained the Crimean Tatars on Wednesday, January 25, near the building of the Kievsky District Court of Simferopol, where they came to support six Crimeans detained a day earlier in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case. Initially, 33 people were detained, but after investigations of seven of them, the security forces released them, including the minor Amar Abdulgaziev, the son of political prisoner Tofik Abdulgaziev.
On January 24, in the Dzhankoysky district of Crimea, security forces came with searches to apartments where Crimean Tatars and their relatives live. According to human rights activists, the homes of Ekrem Krosh, Ayder Asanov, Refat Seydametov, Osman Abdurazakov, Leman Zekiryaev and Khalil Mambetov were searched. All of them were detained and taken to the FSB department for Crimea. Later, the court sent the men to a pre-trial detention center until March 24.
Since 2003, the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization has been recognized as a terrorist organization by the decision of the Supreme Court of Russia, its activities are banned in the Russian Federation. More than 70 people have been arrested in Russia-annexed Crimea since 2014 in the case of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is not banned in Ukraine and most European countries. The Memorial Human Rights Center considers their persecution to be politically motivated: in 2014, Crimean Tatars opposed joining Russia.
In March 2014, Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. International organizations recognized the annexation of Crimea as illegal and condemned the actions of Russia, Western countries imposed economic sanctions against it. The Kremlin denies the annexation of the peninsula and calls it “the restoration of historical justice.”
