Human rights activist Bakhrom Khamroev's arrest was extended on the basis of a new criminal case against him

The Federal Security Service opened another criminal case against human rights activist and member of the liquidated Memorial Human Rights Center Bakhrom Khamroev. His lawyer Timofey Shirokov announced this on his Facebook page.

reports According to the lawyer, Khamroev is charged with organizing the activities of a terrorist organization (). “He, without any hesitation, is charged as a crime with ordinary human rights activities - helping those who are being persecuted under the relevant articles, and whom the same Memorial considered political prisoners,” writes Shirokov. “We couldn’t find anything more specific.”

Part 1 Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code As “Mediazone. Central Asia” with reference to Shirokov, the new criminal case became known on October 17 in the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow at a meeting to extend the preventive measure against Khamroev. The basis for continuing to keep him in the pre-trial detention center was precisely the new criminal case. The arrest was extended for another two months.

reports Khamroev was detained on February 24. The next day, at the request of the FSB, he was charged in the case of justifying terrorism on the Internet (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). Charge, according to the project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial”, presented because of six posts on Facebook.

were taken into custody . The investigation saw in these posts support for the Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir. The human rights activist claims that he was never a member of this organization, but only helped Muslims accused of involvement in it. The new criminal case is also likely related to assistance to those accused and convicted in Hizb ut-Tahrir cases.

In March, the offices of Memorial and Civic Assistance were searched in connection with the Khamroev case. In August, the FSB searched the home of a relative of the human rights activist.

passed carried out Details of a new criminal case against Bakhrom Khamroev became known. The investigation claims that the basis for the accusation was, in particular, that the human rights activist, “not having the status of a lawyer and not being a person entrusted with the defense of suspects or accused, prepared documents justifying the activities of members of this organization, and then sent them to the European Court for human rights, law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation and other states, in order to prevent the prosecution of such persons for committing crimes of a terrorist nature, as well as to prevent their extradition to the territory of the state that has information about the crimes committed.”

19 October 18:00 As human rights activists of the Memorial Human Rights Protection Center, the security forces charge Khamroev with legitimate human rights activities as a crime. “We emphasize: not a single law of the Russian Federation prohibits human rights activities, complaints and statements to law enforcement agencies and international organizations. The new charge against Khamroev directly contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the international obligations of our country,” wrote representatives of the Council of the Memorial Center for Human Rights in their Telegram channel.

claim that Bakhrom Khamroev has been engaged in human rights activities in Russia since 1992. In recent years, he has most often defended the rights of migrants from Asia and Russian Muslims. In February 2020, the court opened a criminal case against Khamroev under the article on fictitious registration of foreigners (Article 322.2 of the Criminal Code) due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. stopped - In 2016 and 2017, two searches were carried out at Khamroev’s place because of the case of two refugees from Uzbekistan, in which the human rights activist was a witness. During one of the interrogations, FSB officers asked the man why he was helping “extremists.” - 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. opinion