The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don received the materials of the criminal case against the Crimean Tatars from the “second Dzhankoy group”. Osman Abdurazakov, Leman Zekeryaev, Khalil Mambetov, Refat Seydametov, Ekrem Krosh and Ayder Asanov are being transferred from the Crimean pre-trial detention center to Rostov-on-Don.

Earlier, lawyer Emil Kurbedinov said that he considered it illegal to transfer political prisoners outside the peninsula. “Such a transfer of Ukrainian citizens to the territory of Russia is a violation of humanitarian law, the Geneva Convention, the PACE resolution and international law. This is regarded as a war crime,” commented the lawyer.

Crimean Tatars are accused of participating in the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir, banned in the Russian Federation. In Ukraine, the activity of the party is legal, activists hold mass public events. According to Russian human rights activists, members of Hizb ut-Tahrir are being persecuted not for preparing a coup d'etat and terrorism, but for public actions against political repressions in Crimea and criticism of the Russian authorities.