Translated material
The court upheld the arrest of two defendants in the second Simferopol Hizb ut-Tahrir case
The Third Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction, located in Sochi, rejected an appeal to extend the arrest of two defendants in the second Hizb ut-Tahrir Simferopol case. It is reported by "Crimean solidarity".
The defendants in the case, Ruslan Suleymanov and Seyran Murtaza, will remain in the pre-trial detention center until December 15, 2020. Suleimanov, his defense lawyer Lilya Gemedzhi and Murtaza participated in the meeting via videoconference from a pre-trial detention center in Simferopol, lawyer Ayder Azamatov from the Supreme Court.
The defense petitioned for the release of Suleymanov and Murtaza from the pre-trial detention center, since they do not intend to interfere with the investigation, in addition, the stages of familiarization with the materials of the criminal case and investigative actions have been completed.
“In fact, the case should be transferred to the prosecutor with the indictment for approval, and then to the court. Based on these arguments, we asked to refuse to satisfy the investigator’s petition and asked to cancel the decision of the court of first instance, ”Krymskaya Solidarity reports the words of lawyer Ayder Azamatov.
In September, the Crimean Supreme Court extended the detention of defendants in the second Simferopol Hizb ut-Tahrir case by three months. A month and a half later, a court in Simferopol limited the time for the defendants in the second Simferopol case, including Suleimanov and Murtaza , to familiarize themselves with the case materials until November 20. The defense also stated that there are more than 50 volumes in the case and only two laptops are issued for 25 people to study the audio and video recordings from the case. All this, according to lawyers, violates the rights of the accused, since it does not make it possible to form a defense strategy for the upcoming trial.
Suleymanov and Murtaza are charged under articles on participation in the activities of a terrorist organization (part 2 of article 205.5 of the Criminal Code) and preparation for a violent seizure of power (article 278 of the Criminal Code with the application of part 1 of article 30 of the Criminal Code).
- The defendants in the second Simferopol case of Hizb ut-Tahrir are accused under articles on organizing or participating in the activities of a terrorist organization (parts 1 and 2 of article 205.5 of the Criminal Code, respectively) and preparations for a violent seizure of power (Article 278 of the Criminal Code with the application of part 1 of Art. 30 of the Criminal Code). In total, 29 Crimean Tatars are being tried in the second Simferopol case of Hizb ut-Tahrir, 25 of them are in a pre-trial detention center, four are wanted.
- Hizb ut-Tahrir was recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia. In this regard, criminal cases are initiated in different regions of the country, while the defendants are sentenced to various terms in a strict regime colony only on the basis that they met in apartments, read religious literature and spread their ideas. The SOVA Information and Analytical Center believes that Hizb ut-Tahrir is unlawfully recognized as a terrorist organization, and its members should not be prosecuted solely on the basis of party activities (holding meetings, reading literature, etc.).