Ruslan Zeitullaev rejects forced nutrition, his advocate reports

Ruslan Zeitullaev, a defendant in the case of a "Hizb ut-Tahrir" unit, intends to continue his hunger strike at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) in Rostov-on-Don until all his demands are met.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 13, in Rostov-on-Don, a second trial began in the case of Ruslan Zeitullaev, who was charged with creating in Crimea a cell of the terrorist organization "Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami", banned in Russia by court. On April 4, Ruslan Zeitullaev declared on a hunger strike in the courtroom of the North-Caucasian District   Military Court. The defendant demands to stop the persecution of Crimean Tatars, to cancel the verdicts to Ferat Saifullaev, Rustem Vaitov, and Nuri Primov, found guilty of involvement in the terrorist organization "Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami", and to extradite all four men to Ukraine.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has been told by Emil Kurbedinov, an advocate of Ruslan Zeitullaev, his client intends to continue his hunger strike until his demands are met.

"I do not know how long he will stay, how long he will be able to continue his hunger strike. He has also said that the attitude to him of the administration of the SIZO No. 1 in Rostov-on-Don has changed dramatically: they firmly incline him to abandon his hunger strike. They use no physical measures, but put psychological pressure on him and demand from him to abandon this hunger strike," said Emil Kurbedinov.

According to the advocate, he has learned from his client that he was threatened with forced feeding, but the procedure was not carried out because of the Ruslan Zeitullaev's protests.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.