The Supreme Court extended the sentence of the defendant in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case by three years.

The Supreme Court of Russia increased the prison term of Ruslan Zeitullayev, accused of organizing a Hizb ut-Tahrir cell in Crimea, from 12 to 15 years. He was also sentenced to one year of restriction of freedom after serving the main term of imprisonment. Journalist Anton Naumlyuk reported this on his Facebook page.

On April 26, the North Caucasus District Military Court found Ruslan Zeitullaev guilty of organizing a Hizb ut-Tahrir cell in Crimea (Part 1 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code) and sentenced him to 12 years in prison. The prosecutor's office decided to appeal this decision; it intended to increase the term to 17 years.

In September 2016, the court indicted four Crimean Tatars, including Zeytullayev. He was then given seven years in a general regime colony, reclassifying the article from organizing terrorist activity to participating in it. However, later, on December 27, the Supreme Court, in response to the prosecution's request , sent the case for a new trial . In February, the court re-started considering Zeytullayev's case.

Earlier today, July 27, it became known that Zeitullayev had gone on a hunger strike again. He made several demands.

“Allow the Human Rights Commissioner of Ukraine Valeria Lutkovskaya to see Zeitullaev in the Rostov pre-trial detention center, as well as Russian human rights activists, a representative of the Consulate General of Ukraine, and journalists who wish to visit him in the pre-trial detention center. Return Zeytullayev, as a citizen of Ukraine, to Ukraine, and stop the persecution of Crimean Tatars for national and religious reasons,” Naumlyuk wrote on Facebook.

In 2016, before his sentence, Zeitullayev held his head for 21 days. On March 16, 2017, in protest against the verdict and the persecution of activists, he began another hunger strike, which he stopped on March 29 due to his desire to fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Hizb ut-Tahrir, according to a number of human rights organizations, has been unlawfully recognized as terrorist.