A court in Samara sentenced a defendant in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case to 17 years in a maximum security colony.

On May 18, the Central District Military Court in Samara sentenced Marcel Gimaliev, a defendant in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case, to 17 years in a maximum security colony. He was found guilty under articles on organizing the activities of a terrorist organization (Part 1 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code) and financing its activities (Part 1 of Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by Roman Petrishchev, an employee of the project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial".

Under Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code, Gimalieva was sentenced to 16 years in a strict regime colony with a year of restriction of freedom, and under Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code - six years in prison. As a result, the court decided to place Gimaliev in a maximum security colony for 17 years and assign him a year of administrative supervision.

The reason for prosecution under the article on financing terrorism was that Muslims - among whom Gimaliev allegedly was - collected money in Kazan for needy co-religionists. The prosecution was based on the testimony of two secret witnesses.

The interests of Marcel Gimaliev were represented by lawyer Nikolai Kuterev, who collaborated with the Memorial Human Rights Center.

liquidated

During his arrest on March 14, 2017, Gimaliev jumped out of the window of his apartment on the fifth floor and received a compression fracture of the spine and broken arms. On April 4, the court placed the man under house arrest. However, FSIN officers did not put an electronic bracelet on Gimaliev and monitored his location through calls and visits to the apartment.

• Six months later, on October 31, Marcel Gimaliev disappeared. A week after this, the court put him on the federal wanted list and arrested him in absentia. In the same year, the man was put on the international wanted list.

It turned out - In February 2020, that Gimaliev was detained and taken into custody.

It has become known that the Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir has been recognized as a terrorist organization on the territory of 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. At the same time, the legislation of Ukraine allows the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir. 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.