A Rostov-on-Don court extends preventive measure for participants in ‘sixth Bakhchisarai group’ case

The Southern District Military Court at a session on March 17 extended the preventive measure for the participants in the case of the “sixth Bakhchisarai group” of the banned organization Hizb ut-Tahrir in the russian federation. Public figures Memet Lyumanov, Mustafa Abduramanov and citizen journalists Rustem Osmanov and Aziz Azizov will remain in pretrial detention until July 7 of this year. This was reported to Crimean Solidarity by lawyer Emil Kurbedinov.

He noted that, despite the defense’s arguments, the court granted the prosecutor’s motion to extend the measure for the participants in the case.

“We stated that the case is absolutely biased. My client, Aziz Azizov, is in the pre-trial detention center only because he does not admit his guilt, and not for the reasons stated by the prosecutor,” Kurbedinov said.

The witness who participated in the search of Mustafa Abduramanov’s house was also questioned at the meeting. According to Kurbedinov, at the time of the search, the witness was a law student. Now he is an active employee of one of the courts of Crimea.

As Azizov’s defense attorney emphasized, the witness answered the prosecution’s questions in detail, recounting all the details of the search. But when the lawyers began the interrogation, the interrogated person’s answers changed to the phrase: “I don’t remember.”

“I was convinced of the enormous bias of this witness,” Kurbedinov noted.

By questioning the witness, the prosecution completed the presentation of its evidence. Next, the defense will begin presenting evidence in court.

On the morning of March 5, 2024, law enforcement officers searched 10 Crimean Tatars in the Bakhchysarai and Dzhankoi Districts of Crimea. On the same day, the court imposed a preventive measure on four of them — Crimean Tatar activists Memet Lyumanov, Mustafa Abduramanov, and citizen journalists Aziz Azizov, Rustem Osmanov. They were sent to a pre-trial detention center.

Later, the court took into custody the detained residents of the city of Dzhankoi and the Dzhankoi District — Enver Khalillayev, Nariman Ametov, Ali Mamutov, the imam of the Lobanovo village mosque Vakhid Mustafayev, and Arsen Kashka.

Former imam Remzi Kurtnezirov was placed under house arrest due to numerous illnesses. All ten arrested were charged with involvement in the activities of the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is banned in the russian federation. Many of those detained are parents in large families.

The organization has been banned in russia since 2003. In Ukraine and most countries of the world, it operates without restrictions at the level of national legislation. The first arrests under this category of criminal cases in Crimea began in 2015, when the norms of russian legislation began to be implemented on the peninsula.