In Crimea, the arrest of two defendants in the second Bakhchisarai “Hizb ut-Tahrir case” has been extended

The Kiev District Court of Simferopol extended until December 9 the arrest of two defendants in the Bakhchisaray Hizb ut-Tahrir case - Server Mustafayev and Edem Smailov, the reports . Crimean Solidarity association

The men are accused of participating in a terrorist organization (Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, at the end of 2016, Mustafayev participated in a meeting of Hizb ut-Tahrir followers in a mosque in the sixth microdistrict of Bakhchisarai.

At the meeting, the prosecutor petitioned for an extension of the detention period - in his opinion, the accused can hide, destroy evidence and continue terrorist activities.

The defense insisted on the opposite: Mustafayev's lawyer Sergey Legostov and Smailov's lawyer Konstantin Rustemov stated that the defendants were not engaged in terrorist activities and did not intend to hide from the investigation. Lawyers said that the investigation had no evidence that their clients were guilty.

Mustafayev said that since 2015 he has attended courts and searches to support his compatriots and their families. He emphasized that these actions are not a motive for accusations of terrorism.

According to Smailov, during the five months of his stay in the pre-trial detention center, the investigation did not have arguments and evidence of his guilt. He added that the word "terrorism" used 38 times in the case file does not make him a terrorist.

• The servers of Mustafayev and Edem Smailov were detained on May 21 after their homes were searched. After their arrest, their case was combined with another case of participation in Hizb ut-Tahrir, which involves six more Crimean Tatars.
• Mustafayev was one of the coordinators of the Crimean Solidarity association, which supports the families of those arrested in the republic for political reasons. He believes that his persecution is related to his activist activities.
• Smailov has been conducting religious ceremonies in Bakhchisarai for the past 15 years.
• Hizb ut-Tahrir is recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia. Cases of terrorism have been opened in different regions of the country, while members of the cells of the organization are accused and sentenced to various terms in a strict regime colony only on the basis that they met in apartments, read religious literature and recruited new members.
• The Sova Information and Analytical Center, which monitors and analyzes both manifestations of racism and xenophobia, and cases of illegal application of anti-extremist and anti-terrorist legislation, emphasized that recognizing an organization as a terrorist organization is illegal.