Lawyers manage to get Crimean citizen journalist Remzi Bekirov to have his term credited

As reported by the Crimean Solidarity non-governmental organization with reference to Crimean lawyer Edem Semedliayev, the Russian-controlled Southern District Military Court counted citizen journalist Remzi Bekirov‘s stay in the pre-trial detention center as part of the time he has to spend in Prison 2 in the city of Yeniseysk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, where he is staying now. Bekirov will spend another year there.

The court explained that one day in the remand prison is equal to one day in prison, noted lawyer Edem Semedliayev. “I hope that this clarification will be enough for the prison administration to recalculate the term and not keep him longer than the specified term,” the attorney said.

Currently, the Crimean Tatar citizen journalist is in strict detention conditions. He is forbidden to sit or lie on the bed all day – he is allowed to either stand or sit on an iron bench. He can make purchases in a store for only RUB 6,000 a month. He can call home and receive parcels only once a year, human rights defenders note.

Remzi Bekirov is a citizen journalist and activist of the Crimean Solidarity NGO. The journalist was involved in searches and court trials in politically motivated cases against the residents of Crimea, including the Vedzhie Kashka case, the arrest of Archbishop Klyment, 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.

In March 2019, Russian security forces searched the homes of Crimean Tatar activists in Crimea, including representatives of the Crimean Solidarity public association. A total of 24 people were detained, among them citizen journalists Osman Arifmemetov, Rustem Sheykhaliyev, and Remzi Bekirov. On March 27 and 28, 2019, the Russian court in Simferopol arrested all the detainees.

On March 28, 2019, Remzi Bekirov was arrested on the second day after the house was searched. On March 27, he was not at home; he and his friends went to the Rostov Oblast to deliver aid to the arrested Crimean Tatars. He was not accused of being a citizen journalist because this is not a crime anywhere in the world except in Crimea. Therefore, the occupiers insidiously falsified a “case” about “terrorism” in the case of Hizb ut-Tahrir. He was charged with organizing the activities of a terrorist organization and preparing to seize power. On March 10, 2022, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison. Remzi commented this saying: “Russia persecutes Crimean Tatars, Crimean Muslims for their dissent. Out of spite to think the way the government says, out of spite to be enslaved people on our land. And on top of that, according to the investigation, my crime is that I dared to cover this lawlessness, having first become a citizen journalist and later a professional correspondent.”

The case of the “second Simferopol group Hizb ut-Tahrir” or “case 25,” as journalists call it, is the largest criminal trial involving political prisoners in occupied Crimea. Among those involved in the case are Crimean Tatar activists, journalists, and human rights defenders. They are accused of involvement in the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, which is banned in Russia. But, in fact, they are being persecuted for their journalistic activities, activism, citizenship, and disloyalty to the occupation authorities. According to human rights organizations, more than a hundred citizens of Ukraine are currently in detention facilities and prisons in Russia and occupied Crimea for political reasons. Eighty-four of them are Crimean Tatars, who are unjustly accused by the terrorist country of… terrorism, which is a paradox!

The Memorial Human Rights Center recognized Remzi Bekirov as a political prisoner, and the international non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders recognized him as a journalist persecuted for his professional activities.

The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine recognized the case of Remzi Bekirov as politically motivated, based on falsified pseudo-evidence, and demanded the withdrawal of all charges and the release of Remzi Bekirov from custody, the prosecution of all falsifiers of the case.