THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
Khalide Bekirova, the wife of Crimean journalist Remzi Bekirov, sentenced to 19 years, reported that he was being staged from Prison-2 of Yeniseisk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, to another place, which is still unknown.
Details of the Remzi Bekirov case are available on the website of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU).
As earlier reported, on March 27, 2019, employees of the russian FSB, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the russian Guard Service conducted searches in Crimea in the homes of Crimean Tatar activists, including representatives of the public association Crimean Solidarity. A total of 24 people were detained. On March 27 and 28, 2019, the russian “Simferopol district court” arrested all the detainees.
The judge of the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don found guilty and sentenced five Crimean Tatar activists. All defendants were sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 15 to 19 years. The court sentenced the correspondent of Crimean Solidarity and the online publication Grani.ru, Remzi Bekirov, and human rights defender, Riza Izetov, to 19 years of imprisonment, with the first five years to be served in prison and the rest – in a penal colony of strict regime with a limit of 1 year and 6 months.
Activist Rayim Ayvazov was sentenced to 17 years in prison, activist Shaban Umerov – 18 years, and Farkhod Bazarov – 15 years. Umerov, Bekirov, Izetov, and Ayvazov were charged under Section 1 of Article 205.5 of the criminal code of russia (Organizing activities of a terrorist organization); Bazarov was charged under Section 2 of Article 205.5 of the criminal code of russia (Participating in the activities of a terrorist organization). All those involved in the case were also charged under Section 1 of Article 30 and Article 278 of the criminal code of russia (Preparing a violent seizure of power).
According to the case materials, the defendants did not have weapons, explosives, or ammunition, did not plan to commit a terrorist act, and did not call others to commit terrorist acts. At the same time, former OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir condemned the arrest of the activists. He called for their immediate release from remand prison. The Memorial Human Rights Center recognized 24 Crimean Tatar activists detained in Crimea on March 27 as political prisoners.
Earlier, the Federal Penitentiary Service of russia refused to transfer journalist Remzi Bekirov from the prison of the Krasnoyarsk Krai to a colony closer to Crimea. As the website of the Crimean Solidarity non-governmental organization notes in its message, the journalist was going to be taken out of prison on July 5. First – to the transit forwarding point in Krasnoyarsk. “Staying there might take a long time. And then [they will take me] in a direction unknown to me,” wrote Bekirov in a letter to his wife.
As previously reported, the Federal Penitentiary Service refused to transfer Remzi Bekirov to a colony closer to Crimea. He wanted to serve his term in the Rostov Region, russia. However, the Federal Penitentiary Service stated that since February 24, correctional institutions in eight regions of russia, including the Don region, have implemented a “medium response level,” so it is impossible to transfer him there.
Remzi Bekirov is a citizen journalist and a Crimean Solidarity activist. The journalist led a stream of searches and trials in politically motivated cases against the residents of Crimea, including the Vedzhiie Kashka case, the arrest of Archbishop Kliment, the Hizb ut-Tahrir cases, and others. Remzi Bekirov is the initiator of the idea of collective assistance to the families of Crimean political prisoners.
NUJU Information Service
Discussion about this post