28 Hostages of the Kremlyn

28 HOSTAGES OF THE KREMLIN
4.4. OTHER CASES OF POLITICAL PROSECUTION IN CRIMEA
the occupation of Crimea by the Russian
Federation, the organisation ‘Hizb ut-Tahrir’
has been banned, and thousands of its
supporters face criminal prosecution.
At the same time, Counsel Emil
Kurbedinov, who is the defender of Ruslan
Zeytullayev, insists on the absence of corpus
delicti in his client’s actions. Moreover,
according to counsels and relatives, the
investigative authorities have no evidence
linking any of the four suspects to the activities
of ‘Hizb ut-Tahrir’, and searches,
carried out within the criminal proceedings,
revealed no evidence linking the detainees
to the said organisation.
Rustem Vaitov
Ruslan Zeytullayev
42
Thus, there is a dangerous trend of systematic
persecution of Crimean Muslims
on religious grounds. According to some
observers, any inconvenient Crimean
Muslim can be included in the case now;
this practice has also been adopted by the
special services of the Russian Federation
in the Caucasus previously, when representatives
of some nations were portrayed
by the media as terrorist/extremist.
Feram Sayfullayev
Nuri Primov
The annexation of Crimea was followed
by a wave of oppression of citizens who openly state their pro-Ukrainian position and oppose
the occupation of the peninsula. Laying flowers at the Shevchenko monument, 60 or the wearing
Ukrainian symbols 61 have become sufficient reasons for arrest. Security agencies of the Russian
Federation, as well as the so-called ‘Self-defence of Crimea’ are striving to prevent any dissent
in the occupied peninsula.
Unfortunately, the true extent of oppression of civil society activists remains unknown, as the
work of independent media and observers in Crimea has been virtually reduced to zero due to
the high degree of risk.
In addition to violations of the freedom of speech and thought, the right of the Crimean people
to free movement and residence on the peninsula has also been violated. Thus, residents of
Crimea, who did not want to accept Russian citizenship, could be expelled from the peninsula, if
they do not receive a permit for temporary residence on the ‘territory of the Russian Federation’.
60 Nezavisimoye Byuro Novostey [Índependent News Bureau’] / Two activists were detained near the
Shevchenko monument in occupied Crimea — www.nbnews.com.ua/ru/news/158951/
61 Segodnya ‘[Today’] / In Crimea, a teenager was arrested for wearing the emblem of Ukraine and ‘Azov’
stickers — www.segodnya.ua/regions/krym/v-krymu-zaderzhali-podrostka-za-gerb-ukrainy-i-nakleykiazova‐637536.html