Expatica news

Russia jails three Crimean Tatars for extremism

Russia on Tuesday sentenced three Crimean Tatars to lengthy jail terms for taking part in a banned Islamic group and plotting to seize power.

A military court in southern Russia on Tuesday sentenced Enver Omerov to 18 years in jail, Ayder Dzhapparov to 17 years and Riza Omerov to 13 years after finding them guilty of extremism and plotting to violently seize power, said a statement from the court.

All three were active in the Hizb ut-Tahrir group on Crimean territory, a pan-Islamist organisation banned in Russia as terrorist, but legal in Ukraine, the court ruled.

They had worked to “created favourable conditions for the violent seizure of power and violent change of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation”, said the court.

Rights group Memorial described the defendants as “political prisoners” in a statement.

“The convenient and familiar accusation of involvement with Hizb ut-Tahrir has become a tool for suppressing public solidarity among citizens of Crimea,” it added.

On Monday, more than a hundred Crimean Tatars were detained on the Crimean Bridge, as they travelled to mainland Russia to support the defendants on the day of the verdict, the Crimean Solidarity movement said on Facebook.

Crimean Tatars are a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority, most of whom opposed the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.

acl/jj