CrimeaSOS: the russian court handed down the longest term to a Crimean political prisoner in the “Hizb ut-Tahrir case”
16 / 06 / 2023
On June 16, the russian southern district military court sentenced Crimean Tatar activist Ansar Osmanov to 20 years in prison. According to CrimeaSOS analyst Yevhenii Yaroshenko, this is the longest term among all sentences for current Crimean political prisoners.
“Ansar Osmanov’s sentence is the longest among all current Crimean political prisoners. Previously, the sentence of military expert Dmytro Shtyblikov was considered the longest prison term – 19 years and 6 months behind bars for alleged treason. Previously, a 20-year sentence was handed down to film director Oleh Sentsov in 2015”, – Yevhenii Yaroshenko said.
Ansar Osmanov is a Crimean Tatar activist of the “Crimean Solidarity” association. He was detained on February 9, 2022 after searches in the homes of Crimean Tatars by the FSB of the russian federation. On that day, russian security forces conducted searches in the homes of Crimean Tatars in the Simferopol, Bakhchysarai and Bilohirsk areas of Crimea. In addition to Osmanov, Marlen Mustafaiev, Ernest Seitosmanov and Ametkhan Abdulvapov were detained.
All of them were accused of alleged involvement in the Islamic political organization “Hizb ut-Tahrir”, which was recognized as a terrorist organization by the supreme court of the russian federation in 2003, but operates legally in most countries of the world.
16 months passed between Ansar Osmanov’s arrest and his sentencing. In his last word, Osmanov said: “Hundreds of disappeared, missing people, hundreds of arrests and sentences on trumped-up charges, torture of innocents, extortion of false testimony, the practice of hidden witnesses – in fact, this is the story of similar denunciations of the NKVD, the forcible deportation of Muslims to distant camps and prisons, hundreds of children who became orphans while alive parents”.
According to CrimeaSOS, 101 citizens of Ukraine were detained in “Hizb ut-Tahrir cases” during the years of the occupation of Crimea.
Photo: Crimean Solidarity