On July 8, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, has passed two sentences upon Crimean Tatars in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case
The court sentenced Ernest Ibragimov, a chef from the Salachik cafe, and Oleg Fedorov, an entrepreneur, to 13 years of imprisonment in a high-security facility, and builder Ismet Ibragimov was sentenced to 19 years in a high-security correctional facility. They were all accused of participating in the activities of the Islamic “terrorist” party Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Testimony in the case was given by so-called "classified witnesses", whose identity is known only to the court and Russia's FSB security agency. Oleg Fedorov's voice is absent from the audio recordings presented as evidence.
During the 8 years of the temporary occupation of Crimea, more than 90 people, most of whom are Crimean Tatars, have been arrested on charges of involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir.