Vilen Temeryanov, citizen journalist from Russian-occupied Crimea, and four Crimean Tatar activists targeted in the “first Çanköy Hizb ut-Tahrir group” case have been sentenced to 13 to 19 years in prison, Crimean Solidarity reports.
The verdict was passed by the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don (Russia) today, 26 November. Activist Enver Krosh was sentenced to 19 years in prison, Edem Bekirov and Rinat Aliyev to 15 years, journalist Vilen Temeryanov to 14 years, and Seyityaga Abbozov to 13 years. The court also ruled that Enver Krosh would serve the first four years in a prison and be later moved to a maximum-security colony. The other defendants were sentenced to three years in prison each.
The prosecutor had requested 17 years in prison for Krosh, 15 years for Edem Bekirov and Rinat Aliyev, 13 years for Temeryanov, and 11 years for Seyityaga Abbozov.
Crimean Solidarity reports that the “first Çanköy Hizb ut-Tahrir group” case against Enver Krosh, citizen journalist Vilen Temeryanov, Rinat Aliyev, Murat Mustafayev, Seyityaga Abbozov and Edem Bekirov was opened in August 2022. The Crimean Tatar men were detained in Çanköy. They were charged with involvement in the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is outlawed in Russia. Murat Mustafayev was later singled out into a separate case.
The main piece of evidence in the case was an audio recording of a 2015 conversation about prayer and fasting. Defense attorney Kurbedinov is certain that the recording was extracted from the FSB archives eight years later.
The attorney also reported gross violations during the investigation, such as forged evidence, unlawful interrogations of “secret witnesses,” incriminating material being planted in defendants’ homes during searches. The examination showed that on the books “seized” during the searches had fingerprints of ten people, none of them being the defendants; the court did not allow the material evidence to be sent for additional examination.
The Hizb ut-Tahrir party was declared a terrorist organisation in Russia by a Supreme Court decision in 2003, before the adoption of the law “On Combating Terrorism”, which de-facto undermines the decision’s legitimacy. The hearing was held in camera, without the organisation’s representatives present.
Vilen Temeryanov is on the Institute of Mass Information’s list of Ukrainian journalists imprisoned by Russia.