Translated material
The police were breaking in on St. Petersburg activist Vladimir Shipitsyn
In St. Petersburg on March 4, at about 2 p.m., the police came to civil activist Vladislav Shipitsyn. He himself told OVD-Info about this.
Shipitsyn was turned off the light in the apartment, breaking the wires in the panel, and they threatened to cut the door. Lawyer and human rights activist Dinar Idrisov came to help. It turned out that they wanted to give Shipitsyn a subpoena for questioning in the case of Olga Smirnova on March 10, but for some reason they decided not to send it by mail. As a result, the summons was handed to the lawyer. The police left only at night, leaving several people to conduct surveillance at the entrance.
Dinar Idrisov submitted an application to the nearest department with a request to check whether the actions of the police contained a crime under four articles: violation of privacy (Article 137 of the Criminal Code), violation of the inviolability of the home (Article 139 of the Criminal Code), abuse of official powers (Article 286 of the Criminal Code) and arbitrariness (Article 330 of the Criminal Code).
Olga Smirnova was searched in connection with the case of justifying terrorism on October 20, 2021. The reason for this was the participation in the “Strategy-18” rally in support of the Crimean Tatars. It is unknown what her status is. Soon after the search of Smirnova, Dinar Idrisov noticed himself being watched in the metro.
Since the morning of March 5, searches have been conducted at Idrisov’s mother and at another St. Petersburg human rights activist, Maria Malysheva.
“Strategy-18” is an open-ended protest in support of Crimean Tatar activists, announced in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Participants of Strategy 18 are regularly detained during peaceful protests. The name is associated with a memorable date: on May 18, 1944, the deportation of Tatar families began in Crimea, during which many died before reaching their places of exile.
- Currently, Crimean Tatar activists are regularly prosecuted in criminal cases for involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir. The Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir is recognized as a terrorist organization in the Russian Federation. In different regions of Russia, as well as in Crimea, cases are being brought against alleged party members for the activities of a terrorist organization. Defendants are sentenced to varying terms solely on the basis that they held meetings and read religious literature. On the territory of Ukraine, the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir are permitted.
- According to a number of experts, Hizb ut-Tahrir was unlawfully recognized as a terrorist organization, since its participants in Russia never advocated violence or prepared terrorist acts. According to the Memorial Human Rights Center, as of August 26, there were 315 people on the incomplete list of those persecuted in Hizb ut-Tahrir cases. Among them, 77 are on the Crimean Peninsula.