At least 25 Crimean Tatars attend Hizb ut-Tahrir court session, get arrested

At least 25 Crimean Tatars were arrested in Simferopol yesterday, Crimean Solidarity reports. They attended a court session where the case of their fellow Crimean Tatars, accused of being members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a pan-Islamist organisation banned in Russia, was tried.

Most of them were accused of setting up a mass event, OVD-Info reports. A total of 25 people were put in jail for 10 to 16 days by decisions of three separate courts, and one more person was fined 20,000 rubles (€265). Midat Zhalilov, sentenced to 10 days in jail, lacks one of his kidneys, activists report.

A total of seven individuals detained on 25 January were released, including the underaged Amar Abdulgaziev who was beaten up by the police during detention, Crimean Solidarity reports.

Six Crimean Tatars had their homes searched as part of the Hizb ut-Tahrir case on 24 January. A total of 33 people who came to the courthouse to support them were detained, according to clarified information.