CrimeaSOS: most often, residents of Crimea are accused of terrorism under 4 out of 7 articles of the criminal code of the russian federation 

The criminal code of the russian federation contains seven articles related to terrorist activities. During the almost 11 years of occupation of the peninsula, russia has most often used four of them against the inhabitants of Crimea. CrimeaSOS analyst Yevhenii Yaroshenko shared this in an interview with “Crimea.Realities”.   

“Having compared what was before the full-scale invasion and after, we can say that Article 205.5 of the criminal code of the russian federation (organization of the activities of a terrorist organization) remains an active tool that the occupation administrations use to persecute Crimean Tatar activists and Muslim communities, allegedly because of their affiliation with Hizb ut-Tahrir”, – Yevhenii Yaroshenko noted.  

The anti-terrorist articles under which the occupiers most often persecute residents of Crimea: 

• Article 205 of the criminal code of the russian federation, which provides for liability for committing a terrorist act; 
• Article 205.2 of the criminal code of the russian federation, which provides for liability for public calls for terrorist activities, public justification of terrorism or propaganda of terrorism; 
• Article 205.5 of the criminal code of the russian federation, which provides for liability for organizing the activities of a terrorist organization and participating in the activities of such an organization. 
• Article 361 of the criminal code of the russian federation, which provides for liability for an act of international terrorism. 

The analyst also said that there were periodic persecution under articles on public calls for terrorist activities. They existed both before and after February 24, but the reasons for the persecution changed somewhat. 

As an example, Yevhenii cited the case of Oleh Prykhodko who was illegally sentenced to 9.5 years in a strict regime colony. He was initially sentenced to 5 years in prison for allegedly preparing terrorist attacks, but later the russian court added another 4.5 years in prison for allegedly publicly justifying terrorism. Many residents are tried under the same article due to posts on social media. 

The analyst also noted that the article on an act of international terrorism began to be applied by the occupiers after February 24. It appeared in the criminal code of the russian federation after the adoption of the so-called “Yarova anti-terrorist package” in 2016 and is used as a tool to persecute pro-Ukrainian activists in the newly occupied territories. 

We would like to remind you that in terms of the scale of persecution by russia for “membership” in Hizb ut-Tahrir, Crimea is in third place. January 23 marked the 10th anniversary of the arrest of the members of the “First Sevastopol Group of Hizb ut-Tahrir,” which was the first step in large-scale repressions against Crimean Muslims that continue to this day.