The Military Court of Appeal commuted the sentence of human rights activist and former member of the liquidated Memorial Human Rights Center Bakhrom Khamroev. This was reported by SOTAvision.
The term of imprisonment assigned to him was reduced by three months - now it is 13 years and 9 months.
At the end of May, the 2nd Western District Military Court sentenced Khamroev to 14 years in prison: three years in prison and 11 years in a maximum security colony. For another four years after serving his sentence, the human rights activist will be prohibited from administering websites. The prosecution asked that he be sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Khamroev was arrested on February 25, 2022 after a search the day before. Project “Support for political prisoners. Memorial reported that security forces threw the human rights activist face down on the floor, and his wife Zukhra and a relative with a disability were taken out of the apartment. They also tried to threaten the man’s wife into signing a protocol of investigative actions, which she was not present at. In March of the same year, searches in his case were carried out in the offices of Memorial and Civic Assistance.
The reason for prosecution under the article on justification of terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code) were several posts on Facebook by the human rights activist: the investigation saw in them support for the Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir. The man reported that he had never been a member of the organization, but only helped Muslims accused of involvement in it.
The case under the article on organizing the activities of a terrorist organization (Part 1 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code) became known in October last year. Initially, the human rights activist was accused of “representing the interests of supporters of a terrorist organization in law enforcement agencies, courts, including the European Court of Human Rights” ; provided legal assistance to citizens of Uzbekistan who were wanted by the country's authorities; described political persecution in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in a human rights report; wrote letters to government agencies in Germany and Sweden about the need to provide political asylum to specific people. According to investigators, Khamroev also involved certain individuals in the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir.
The examination concluded that he belonged to the organization based on his speech to Muslims in 2011 at the Moscow Izmailovo hotel complex. In it, the man congratulated his co-religionists on Ramadan, welcomed the unification of Muslims and wished “ for Muslims to acquire a free, independent, powerful state.” At the conference, the human rights activist acted as the guest of honor.
In the verdict, the court reclassified the charge to a more lenient article - participation in the activities of a terrorist organization (Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code), since the investigation, in the opinion of the panel, did not prove that Khamroev held a leadership position in Hizb ut-Tahrir.
The charges also excluded items on the protection of people in the courts, including the ECHR, and assistance in obtaining political asylum in Sweden, since the prosecution did not provide evidence that the people whom the human rights activist helped belonged to Hizb ut-Tahrir. In addition, a report on human rights violations in Uzbekistan was excluded from the verdict - the court did not find evidence that the information in it was deliberately false.
- Bakhrom Khamroev has been involved 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 dismissed the 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.
- In 2016 and 2017, Khamroev’s home was subject to two searches 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.”
- In April, Khamroev’s nephew was arrested for 10 days because he refused to sign a summons to the military registration and enlistment office. His girlfriend said that during the arrest the young man was beaten.
- 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 Research Center "Owl" And project “Support for political prisoners. Memorial” , the party is illegally recognized as terrorist in Russia.