70 supporters of "Hizb ut-Tahrir" detained by FSB in Moscow

In Moscow and the Moscow Region, FSB staff members conducted numerous detentions and searches at houses of supporters of the Islamic movement "Hizb ut-Tahrir", suspected of violating Part 2 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "organization of activity of an extremist organization".

In total, more than 70 persons were detained. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Vitaly Ponomaryov, Director of the Central Asia programme of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

The official report of the FSB states that during the search of the houses of suspected persons, power agents seized propaganda literature, included in the list of extremist materials, and found documents and items, indicating illegal activity of the detainees.

The movement "Hizb ut-Tahrir" is included in the list of organizations, for which there is information of their involvement in extremist activity or terrorism.

Bakhrom Khamroev, a staff member of the HRC "Memorial", has said that out of 70 detainees, 50 were released and other people "are kept at the building at Lubyanka Square". "Shokir Nurov, one of the detainees, has confessed the investigators that he is a member of 'Hizb ut-Tahrir' and that he did not commit any illegal acts he did not attempt on anyone and did not call for anything. It turns out that the person is accused of extremism solely for his belonging to the movement," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told Bakhrom Khamroev.