The investigation into the case of the Yalta cell of Hizb ut-Tahrir has been completed

The investigation into the case of alleged members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Yalta has been completed. This was reported on the Novaya Gazeta website.

Now the case against Emir-Usein Kuku, Enver Bekirov, Vadim Siruk and Muslim Aliyev will be transferred to the prosecutor's office, and then to the court. They are accused of activities of a terrorist organization (the investigation considers Aliyev to be the head of the cell, the rest - ordinary members) and of preparing for a violent seizure of power.

All four were arrested in February 2016 after searches in the homes of Crimean Tatars. As a Novaya correspondent reports, the arrests and searches were harsh, the police broke down doors and windows, and one of the detainees had a bag put over his head. Later, Rifat Alimov and Arsen Dzhepparov were arrested, whom investigators also consider to be members of the Yalta Hizb ut-Tahrir cell.

Back in 2015, they tried to prosecute human rights activist and member of the Human Rights Contact Group Emir-Usein Kuku for publishing on the Internet. In April 2015, Kuku was detained by FSB officers. According to human rights activist lawyer Alexander Popkov, the security forces could have tried to kidnap Kuku in this way:

In essence, we see an ideal scheme for a semi-official kidnapping of a person by security forces. They, hiding behind a court decision to inspect the home during operational search activities, come to the house, but at the same time take the owner with them. Without any grounds for detention. And then, if a person suddenly disappears, the authorities can throw up their hands and refer to unknown persons in the uniform of law enforcement officers

On November 30, 2015, the activist was summoned for questioning by the Investigative Committee in connection with publications on his pages on social networks. Investigators studied in detail about 40 publications and came to the conclusion that there was nothing prohibited in them.

The Yalta Four were charged under Part 2 of Art. 205 of the Criminal Code (organizing the activities of a terrorist organization) and under Art. 278 (violent seizure of power), and the justifications for qualifications for both articles in the text of the indictment are completely identical.

In September 2016, the court sentenced four Crimean Tatars - Ruslan Zeytullaev, Ferat Saifulaev, Rustem Vaitov and Nuri Primov, finding them guilty of participating in the “Sevastopol cell” of Hizb ut-Tahrir. Vaitov, Primov and Saifulaev were sent to a general regime colony for 5 years, Zeitullaev - for 7. However, later, on December 27, the Supreme Court, in response to the prosecution’s request, sent the case against Zeitullaev for a new trial . Zeitullayev's sentence was commuted to 12 years in a maximum security colony, since the investigation considered him to be the organizer of the cell. The prosecutor's office again protested the verdict, trying to get the Crimean Tatar to serve 18 years in prison.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is recognized as a terrorist organization in the Russian Federation. Cases of terrorism have been opened in different regions of the country, while members of the organization’s cells are accused and sentenced to various terms in a maximum security colony only on the basis that they met in apartments, read religious literature and recruited new members.