SIMIFEROPOL. Oct 29 (Interfax) - The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced four residents of Crimea to 12 to 17 years in a high-security penitentiary as followers of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a terrorist organization banned in Russia, lawyer Lilya Gemedzhi told Interfax on Friday.
"Seitumer Seitumerov has been sentenced to 18 years, Osman Seitumerov to 14, Rustem Seitmemetov to 13, and Amet Suleymanov to 12. All of them will spend the first three and a half years in prison," Gemedzhi said.
The Seitumerovs are brothers, and Seitmemetov is their uncle.
The prosecutor demanded longer sentences totaling 66 years, including 20 years for Seitumer Seitumerov, 17 years for Osman Seitumerov, 16 years for Seitmemetov, and 13 years for Suleymanov. The defense lawyers asked for an acquittal. None of the defendants pleaded guilty.
The four residents of Crimea were charged with organizing and participating in the activities of a terrorist organization.
"The evidence is two audio files recorded by operatives in an ancient mosque, Tahtali Jami in Bakhchisarai. The rest is testimony from two secret witnesses," Gemedzhi said.
The four men were detained after the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) conducted searches in the Bakhchisarai district of Crimea in March 2020.
The Russian Supreme Court banned Hizb ut-Tahrir as a terrorist organization in 2003. There are no regulations on Hizb ut-Tahrir's activities in Ukraine. The FSB regularly conducts searches and uncovers operations of Hizb ut-Tahrir cells in the Bakhchisarai district and other parts of Crimea, which joined Russia in March 2014.