Two Crimean Tatars from Simferopol were sentenced to prison terms of up to 17 years in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced Crimean Tatars from Simferopol, baker Timur Yalkabov and loader Lenur Seidametov, to 17 and 13 years in prison in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case. This was reported by Interfax with reference to the press service of the court and Crimean Solidarity .

Both will spend the first four years in prison, and the rest of the term in a maximum security colony.

According to investigators, in June 2015 they became members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, “recruited local residents” and held meetings at which they “indoctrinated those present.”

The investigation named Yalkabov as the organizer of the branch (Part 1 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code), and Seidametov as its participant (Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code). Both were also accused of attempting to forcibly seize power (Part 1 of Article 30, Article 278 of the Criminal Code).

Lawyer Safie Shabanova told Crimean Solidarity that the case is based on the testimony of secret witnesses and recordings of the defendants’ conversations with them.

According to the lawyer, one of the witnesses, who had previously been involved “in many criminal cases against Crimean Muslims,” called the defendants to an apartment “equipped with sound recording devices” and “deliberately provoked them to talk about topics of banned organizations.”

Yalkabov and Seidametov were detained along with five other Crimean Tatar activists after a series of searches in February 2021 in Simfropol, Bakhchisaray, Sevastopol and other cities of Crimea. One person was then released, and the rest were sent to a pre-trial detention center during the investigation.

The Russian Supreme Court in 2003 declared the Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir terrorist and banned it. The organization operated legally on the territory of Ukraine, but after the annexation of Crimea, Russian security forces began to persecute alleged supporters of the party.