The Southern District Military Court has completed the investigation into the case of the second Sevastopol group as part of the persecution for participation in Hizb ut-Tahrir. Rustem Murasov, Rustem Tairov, Zavur Abdullayev and Dzhebbar Bekirov addressed the meeting participants with the last word. Defenders of the Crimean Tatars also took part in the debate.

“Our clients exercised their right to freedom of religion, freedom of conscience. Gathered in a private house, had conversations on various topics. In their conversations there is nothing about violence, about explosions. But the FSB started persecuting people who have nothing to do with terrorism at all,” said lawyer Emil Kurbedinov.

Political prisoner Dzhebbar Bekirov reminded the court about searches and arrests in the homes of Crimean Tatars. “This is the standard wording with which, since 2014, my compatriots, Crimean Tatars, have been imprisoned on a permanent basis. This is the sword of Damocles, which hung over my people and periodically collapses, taking away fathers and sons, brothers and husbands from families, leaving behind destroyed families,” Bekirov said in his last speech.

On May 31, the panel of judges will announce the verdict. Crimean Tatars are being tried for ties to the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is banned in Russia but operates freely in Ukraine and most European countries.