Rostov court sentences five defendants in Hizb ut-Tahrir* case to long imprisonment terms

Today, the North-Caucasian District Military Court has announced a guilty verdict against residents of Crimea who were accused of involvement in the organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia by the court. The defendants, who pleaded not guilty, were sentenced to 12-17 years of imprisonment.

About 40 people came to the courtroom to support the defendants. During the pronouncement of the verdict, the three men unbuttoned their shirts with the words reading: "Muslims are not terrorists," but policemen asked them to button their shirts back.

The case had been under consideration since February. During the trial, all defendants refused to admit their guilt. "The allegations are false, aimed to justify a repressive machine against Muslims of Crimea," said Teimur Abdullaev at the first court hearing, as quoted by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent who attended the trial then.

* Hizb ut-Tahrir is an organization recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia by the court.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 18, 2019 at 05:04 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.