Methods of occupation “courts” for keeping Crimeans in pretrial detention centres: CrimeaSOS analyst’s comment 

On November 1, 2023, the so-called “Supreme Court of Simferopol” kept the activists from the “fifth Bakhchisarai group in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case” in pretrial detention after considering the appeal. CrimeaSOS analyst Yevhenii Yaroshenko explained how preventive measures were extended for those involved in the “Hizb ut-Tahrir case” and what mechanisms the occupation “courts” used for this.

“These defendants are charged, as a rule, under two articles. This is, in fact, “organization of the activities of a terrorist organization” (or “participation in the activities of a terrorist organization”) or – preparation for a “violent seizure of power”. Moreover, the second charge is brought six months to a year after their arrest​”, – the analyst said in a comment to Hromadske Radio. 

In his opinion, there is a possibility that the second charge is used to make it impossible to mitigate the preventive measure at the stage of the pre-trial investigation. “With such a combination of accusations, any arguments to release a person from pre-trial detention centre become irrelevant”, –the analyst added. 

As for the “fifth Bakhchysarai group in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case”, according to Yevhenii Yaroshenko, the “arguments” for extending their preventive measure can be the following: 

• special gravity of the crime; 
• Ukrainian citizenship;  
• possibility of hiding from the investigation.

However, all these arguments of the prosecution are baseless. The defence, as a rule, appeals to the fact that the defendants have several minor children, unsatisfactory state of health, no criminal record. It also emphasizes the need to extend the IV Geneva Convention to the defendants, according to which Ukrainian legislation shall be applied in the occupied territory. 

Reference: “Hizb ut-Tahrir” is an international political Islamic party, which was recognized as a terrorist organization by the decision of the supreme court of the russian federation in 2003, however, legally “Hizb ut-Tahrir” operates on the territory of Ukraine and in most countries of the world. Occupiers hand down sentences of up to 20 years in prison for alleged involvement in “Hizb ut-Tahrir”.

Source of the photo: Crimean Solidarity