Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili stated that the ruling party's signing of a document in support of Ukraine was motivated not so much by fears of an international investigation as by a desire to irritate Russia.
Crimean Tatar philologist and journalist Seyran Saliev, sentenced to 16 years in prison, has been under preventive registration in a colony in the Tula region for six years. However, he did not commit any violations.
Based on the order of the Ministry of Justice of Russia, prisoners “prone to systematically violating internal regulations and attacking law enforcement officers” are taken into preventive registration. Saliev was registered immediately after his arrest - in the Simferopol pre-trial detention center. The FSIN justified its decision with a “terrorist article.”
“The lifestyle that I led in freedom, according to the laws of my religion, I continue to lead here, being in captivity. There can be no talk of any call for terrorism or the spread of terrorism, because my religion is against this. My actions and words in no way border on criminal activity,” the political prisoner emphasized.
Seyran Saliev is a philologist of the Turkish and Crimean Tatar languages. Before his arrest, he worked as a tour guide and journalist for Crimean Solidarity.
In 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years on charges of involvement in the activities of the Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir. It was recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation, while in Ukraine and European countries the organization operates absolutely freely.
In 2019, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on Russia to release all Ukrainian political prisoners, including Crimean Tatars.