Searches have been carried out in the Symferopol district of Russian-occupied Crimea in what appears to be the latest wave of arrests of Crimean Muslims for supposed involvement in an organization that is legal in Ukraine. The five men are all Crimean Tatar and Muslim; some at least have taken part, this year or last year, in the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca.
Human rights lawyer Emil Kurbedinov reports that he was allowed into one of the searches. As usual, he says, nothing was found except Muslim literature. He has no doubt this is the latest phase of repression and intimidation against Crimean Tatars, Crimean Muslims. He specifically asks the international community to come out in their defense. As soon as people hear “Islam,” or “Hizb ut-Tahrir,” he says, they back off and don’t want to know, with this helping only Russia in its repression.
On a video, the wife of one of the men speaks of how the men in masks simply burst in, waking them and the children. They gave no explanation, showed no documents and just hit her husband, forcing him to the floor and handcuffing him.
These arrests follow a certain pattern with one person accused of “organizing a terrorist cell,” under Article 205.5 § 1 of the Russian criminal code, and the others of “taking part” in it, under Article 205.5 § 2.
In this case, it appears that 41-year-old Timur Abdullayev is charged with being “organizer,” with this carrying a possible sentence of up to 17 years’ imprisonment. Uzeir Abdullayev, 42; Emil Dzhemadinov; Aider Saledinov and Rustem Ismailov, 32, face the lesser charge of “involvement.” Mr. Ismailov is from Kamenka; the others are from Stroganovka.
Judging by the fact that the Russian state-controlled RIA Novosti agency has already reported the searches as a “special operation on eliminating a Crimean cell of Hizb ut-Tahrir,” there seems little hope that the men will be questioned and released.
If these are the latest arrests for alleged involvement in the pan-Islamist movement Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is legal in Ukraine and most other countries, it will bring the number of such arrests since Russia invaded and annexed Crimea to 19.
The silence from the international community – and especially international rights NGOs – is all the more baffling since the renowned Memorial Human Rights Center has recognized the first four men already tried – Ruslan Zeitullayev, Ferat Saifullayev, Rustem Vaitov and Nuri Primov – as political prisoners. It is only a question of time before all others receive the same status.
Memorial has repeatedly condemned all of Russia’s prosecutions of Muslims for no more than purported involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir, but it has additional grounds for criticism with respect to the arrests in Crimea.
It notes:
“It is important here that Crimea, from our point of view, is territory which Russia has occupied. In accordance with international humanitarian law, Russia is limited in its legislative and administrative powers. It does not have the right to totally revoke criminal legislation in force at the beginning of the occupation and replace it with its own. Under Ukrainian legislation Hizb ut-Tahrir is entirely legal.
“We would note that this criminal prosecution is the first of three initiated against Crimean Tatars on terrorist charges, and it is part of the campaign of repression unleashed in the occupied peninsula.”
Hizb ut-Tahrir
This organization is legal in Ukraine and in all Western countries (except Germany, where there was an administrative ban on forming a German branch, though not a criminal ban). Russia’s Supreme Court declared it “terrorist” in a 2003 judgment that was long kept secret, preventing the organization itself and rights NGOs from appealing against it.
Russia has never provided any evidence to back the Supreme Court decision, and this, Memorial points out, is one of the reasons it has repeatedly condemned the judgment and considers all those convicted of such charges to be political prisoners. There is absolutely no evidence, anywhere in the world, of any terrorist activities carried out or even advocated by Hizb ut-Tahrir.
A Memorial expert, Vitaly Ponomaryov, believes that Russia may have declared the organization terrorist to make it easier to extradite people to Uzbekistan where they almost certainly faced religious persecution and torture.
The first sentences were handed down in Rostov, Russia, on September 7. Messrs. Zeitullayev, Saifullayev, Vaitov and Primov were, as anticipated, convicted, despite the lack of any evidence and flagrant violations of procedure. There was, however, one positive note. The court requalified the charges against Mr. Zeitullayev from “organizing” to “taking part,” meaning that he received a seven-year sentence rather than the 17 years demanded by the prosecutor. The other men were sentenced to five years each.
All the sentences have been appealed by the defense, and at least the Zeitullayev sentence (the change in charges) has been challenged by the prosecutor. It remains to be seen what the appeal brings.
A great deal will hinge on that. These arrests and trials have been called a “conveyor belt,” and it can be safely assumed that the courts provide the sentences they are told to pass.
International pressure is vital to stop this conveyor belt aimed at terrorizing Crimean Muslims in a part of Ukraine that Russia is illegally occupying.