The court again extended the arrest of the accused of participating in Hizb ut-Tahrir, who was previously acquitted in this case

The Southern District Military Court extended the arrest of Ernes Ametov, a defendant in the case of the second Bakhchisaray group of Hizb ut-Tahrir, until January 11, 2023. “Crimean Solidarity” writes about this.

During the court hearing, Ametov’s lawyer noted that his client himself came to court for the preliminary hearing, and before being taken into custody, he worked, raised children and made no attempts to escape. The defense lawyer pointed out that the case is being reconsidered; there is no new evidence in it, which means the man cannot influence them in any way.

In 2020, Ametov was acquitted of participation in the activities of a terrorist organization (Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code) and preparation for a violent seizure of power (Article 278 of the Criminal Code with the use of Part 1 of Article 30 of the Criminal Code). The court considered that sufficient evidence of Ametov’s guilt was not provided in the case materials. A man arrested in 2017 was released in the courtroom.

In March, the case was sent for a new trial. In May, Ametovwas arrested again.

In total, ten people are involved in the second Hizb ut-Tahrir case in Bakhchisarai; seven defendants in the case were sentenced to terms ranging from 13 to 19 years in a maximum security colony.

• The second Bakhchisarai case against Hizb ut-Tahrir was opened in October 2017. Most of the defendants in this case are activists of Crimean Solidarity, a social movement in support of persecuted Crimean Tatars and those persecuted on the mainland for political reasons.
• The Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir was recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia. Its participants are accused and sentenced to real terms only on the basis that they met in apartments, read religious literature and recruited new participants. According to the SOVA information and analytical center, the party was unlawfully recognized as terrorist in Russia.
• According to Memorial, as of March 22, 2022, at least 340 people are being persecuted for their involvement with Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami. Of these, at least 231 people were convicted, and 176 of them were sentenced to terms of more than ten years in prison. Most of the defendants - 94 people - are from Crimea and Sevastopol. Tatarstan is in second place: at least 81 people from this region are being persecuted in connection with their involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir. In third place is Bashkortostan (53 participants).