Russian court started considering blogger Memedeminov’s case on the merits

The North Caucasian court in Rostov-na-Donu has started to consider the case of the blogger Nariman Memedeminov on the merits, as the journalist Taras Ibrahimov posted a message on his Facebook page. “The criminal case against me is politically charged. This is a persecution on ethnic, religious and professional grounds, since I am Crimean Tatar, muslim and civiс activist”, Memedeminov claimed. At the same time, the prosecution disguised the fact he was Ukrainian citizen, as he is called “native of Uzbekistan” in the case papers., he added. He told that he had posted his first materials in 2014, as they started to search the homes of Crimean Tatars. He wrote for “Crimean solidarity”, then he assumed responsibility of “head of media desk” inside the association. IMI informed, on May 29, 2019, the North Caucasus district military court in Russia’s Rostov-na-Donu ruled to start hearing the Nariman Memediminov’s case on the merits on June 10th. On May 7, 2019, the Kremlin controlled by the Supreme Court of Crimea extended a preventive measure until June 15 for activist and blogger Nariman Memediminov. On March 22, 2018, in Simferopol Russian law enforcement officers detained the Crimean civic journalist Nariman Memediminov. On March 23, the court issued an order to arrest Memedeminov. The detainee has been charged under the part 2 of Art. 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Public appeals to terrorist activities committed by means of the Internet”). On March 23, 2018 the Crimean public prosecutor’s office (Ukraine) instituted criminal proceedings against activity of Russian prosecution against Nariman Memedeminov, based on the part 2 of Art.146 (“Illegal deprivation of liberty or theft of a person”), part 2 of Art. 162 (“Violation of inviolability of housing”) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.