The military appeal court in Vlasikha (Moscow region) upheld the sentence against the Crimean Tatars. Enver Ametov, Osman Arifmemetov, Ruslan Suleymanov, Rustem Sheykhaliev and Yashar Muedinov were sentenced to 13 and 14 years in a maximum security colony.

According to lawyer Lily Gemedzhi, the classified witnesses in the case, who spoke under pseudonyms, did not know the defendants. The defense tried to prove the charges against the activists were unfounded.

“We are accused of thought crime in the context of the general fight against dissent in Russia. And the judicial system has turned into an instrument for the destruction of alternative opinions, thoughts different from the position of the authorities,” Osman Arifmemetov said in court.

Yashar Muedinov called for an end to repression in Crimea. “After darkness still comes light. We all walk under the Lord God,” the activist concluded.

In 2022, Crimean Tatars were sentenced to 14 years on charges of terrorist activities and attempting to seize power. They pleaded not guilty and consider their prosecution political, as they criticized the authorities of the Russian Federation and Crimea after the annexation of the peninsula to Russia.