Two residents of Bakhchisarai were sentenced to 13 years in prison for involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Ernest Ibragimov and Oleg Fedorov were convicted under Art. 278 and 205.5 of the Criminal Code for involvement in the radical Hizb ut-Tahrir party, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia.

On July 8, 2022, the Southern District Military Court passed a sentence on Crimeans Ernest Ibragimov and Oleg Fedorov from Bakhchisaray. They were found guilty of preparing for a violent seizure of power (Article 278 with the application of Part 1 of Article 30 of the Criminal Code) and participation in a terrorist organization (Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code). Both were sentenced to 13 years in prison and a year of restriction of liberty. Both will have to spend the first three and a half years in prison, and the rest of the term in a strict regime colony.

According to investigators, Ibragimov and Fedorov participated in the work of the radical Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia. It is reported that the case included the testimony of classified witnesses, as well as audio recordings of secret meetings. At the same time, according to Fedorov and his lawyers, his voice is not on these recordings, and he was confused with the voice of Rustem Murasov, who was arrested in 2021 in a similar case. The latter was ready to confirm this, but it was not possible to interrogate him at the court session. Other participants in the meeting have already been convicted in the "second Bakhchisaray case" of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

We believe that there were no grounds for banning Hizb ut-Tahrir as a terrorist organization, since this party was not seen to be involved in terrorism. Accordingly, we regard it as unlawful persecution of its members under anti-terrorist articles only on the basis of party activities (holding meetings, reading literature, etc.). And the fact that the party preaches the idea of ​​creating a worldwide Islamic caliphate, from our point of view, does not provide grounds for accusing its followers of planning a violent seizure of power in Russia.

Sources

• Case card No. 1-28/2022 (1-114/2021;) // Website of the Southern District Military Court. 2022. July 8.
• "45 years for beliefs". Three Crimean Tatars were sentenced to decades in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case. Message from the Crimean Solidarity project. 2022. July 8.