EU considers sentencing of four Crimean Tatars by Russian court illegal

EU’s Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano wrote about this on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

"The EU considers sentencing of 4 Crimean Tatars by a Russian Military Court illegal and unacceptable. We call on Russia to ensure full compliance with international human rights standards and other obligations under international law in the illegally annexed Crimea," the report reads.

As Ukrinform reported, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly protested against the illegal decision of the Southern Military District Court of the Russian Federation of August 16 to convict four Ukrainian citizens Ruslan Nagaev, Lenur Khalilov, Ruslan Mesutov, and Eldar Kantimirov in the case of the Hizb ut-Tahrir Alushta group.

On June 10, 2019, the men were detained after raids on their houses and have stayed in prison ever since. All of them were charged with belonging to an Islamic political party, which has been banned in Russia since 2003. The organization operates without restrictions at the level of national legislation in the territory of Ukraine and most countries of the world.

Ruslan Nagaev was engaged in business activities in Alushta, Lenur Khalilov was the leader and founder of the Muslim community “Alushta”, and Ruslan Mesutov worked in it as a security guard. Eldar Kantemirov graduated from the Kyiv Islamic University.

According to the case files, the defendants did not have weapons, explosives, ammunition, did not plan to commit a terrorist act, and did not call on others to commit terrorist acts.

On July 18, 2019, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on Russia to release all Ukrainian political prisoners, including defendants in this criminal case.

On September 23, 2020, the Human Rights Center Memorial recognized Kantemirov, Mesutov, Nagaev, and Khalilov as political prisoners and demanded their immediate release.

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