A court in Russia's southwestern city of Rostov-on-Don has sentenced four Crimean Tatar activists to lengthy prison sentences for organizing and participating in the activities of the Islamic political organization Hizb ut-Tahrir.
One of the four men, Dzhebbar Bekirov, received a 17-year prison sentence for his work with Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has been banned by Russia as a terrorist organization since 2003 but remains legal in Ukraine, and for preparing for the seizure of power.
The other three -- Zaur Abdullayev, Rustem Murasov, and Rustem Tairov -- received 12 years each on the same charges, according to the Crimean Solidarity group on May 31.
All four will spend the first four years of their sentences in prison and the remainder in a maximum-security penal colony. The court also added a year and a half of restrictions to Bekirov to be served after his release and a year of restrictions for the others, also to be served after their release, Crimean Solidarity said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said the "falsified and worthless" sentences show that Russia is resorting to all kinds of crimes in the temporarily occupied territories with the aim of destroying centers of freedom of thought and religion that are not under the control of its punitive bodies.
"Violence and repression cannot be the answer to the right to express one's beliefs and protect one's identity," the ministry said on its website.
The sentences were announced one week after the same court sentenced Crimean Tatar activist Ernes Seytosmanov to 18 years in prison on terrorism charges for his involvement in the Hizb ut-Tahrir movement. Seytosmanov was also found guilty of participating in the activities of a terrorist organization and preparing for a violent seizure of power. His lawyer, Aleksei Ladin, said the court's ruling will be appealed.
Bekirov, Tairov, Murasov, and Abdullayev were detained in August 2021 in Russian-controlled Crimea after their homes were searched.
Since Russia illegally seized Crimea in 2014, Russian authorities have prosecuted dozens of Crimean Tatars on various charges that rights organizations have called trumped up.
Rights groups and Western governments have denounced what they describe as a campaign of repression by the Russian-imposed authorities in Crimea who are targeting members of the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar community and those who have spoken out against Moscow's takeover of the peninsula.
Russia claimed control of Crimea in March 2014 after sending in troops, seizing key facilities, and staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries.
Since January 2015, criminal cases related to the Hizb ut-Tahrir have been initiated in Crimea under the de facto control of Russia. In Ukraine, the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir are not prohibited.
Human rights activists say members of the organization are being persecuted not for preparing to seize power but for public actions against political repression in Crimea, criticism of Russian authorities, and for mass disloyalty in response to the events of 2014 as well as to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022.