A court in Crimea extended the period of detention for those involved in the gas pipeline sabotage case

The Kyiv District Court of Simferopol granted the investigation's request to extend the preventive measure for the accused in the case of an explosion on a gas pipeline in the village of Perevalnoye. Nariman Jelal and brothers Aziz and Asan Akhtemov will remain in custody until February 23, 2022, writes Crimean Solidarity.

The court, at the request of the investigator, held the hearing behind closed doors for the “safety of the participants in the process.” Relatives and listeners were allowed in only for the announcement of the decision.

Lawyer Nikolai Polozov, defending the Crimean Tatar activists, added that the preliminary investigation in the case had ended and the defense had begun to familiarize itself with the case materials, but the investigator, in a petition to extend the preventive measure, indicated that it was necessary to carry out a number of activities and examinations.

On January 25, the Supreme Court of Crimea rejected the complaints of Nariman Jelal, Asan and Aziz Akhtemov to extend the arrest, Crimea.Realii reported .

• On the night of September 3-4, searches were carried out in the houses of Crimean Tatars Asan and Aziz Akhtemov, former deputy head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Nariman Jelal and two other people. On September 6, it became known that second cousins ​​Asan and Aziz Akhtemov and Nariman Dzhelal were suspects in the case of sabotage on a gas pipeline near the village of Perevalnoye (Part 1 of Article 281 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, in August 2021, they installed an explosive device on the gas pipeline, which led to a shutdown of gas supply in the village and interruptions in the work of social institutions. One of the witnesses in the case alleged torture.
• On September 17, Asan Akhtemov was charged with a new charge under the article on illegal possession of explosives by a group of persons (Part 4 of Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code), and on the 20th the charge was tightened , replacing the first part of the charged article with the second (Part 2 of Article 281 of the Criminal Code - sabotage committed by a group of persons). In November, the FSB added charges to the defendants for smuggling explosive devices by an organized group (Part 3 of Article 226.1 of the Criminal Code).
• The Supreme Court of Crimea recognized the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people as an extremist organization and decided to liquidate it on April 26, 2016.