FSB, police searching homes of Hizb ut-Tahrir followers in Crimea
SIMFEROPOL. March 27 (Interfax) - Criminal charges have been brought against a number of Crimean residents implicated in the alignment with the Hizb ut-Tahrir terrorist organization (banned in Russia), the regional branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement on Wednesday.
"In furtherance of the criminal investigation, homes of followers of the Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami international terrorist organization banned in Russia are being searched on March 27, 2019," the statement said.
According to it, the searches are being carried out by the FSB, the Interior Ministry, and the Russian National Guard.
The number of suspects is not specified.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova said that ten people had been detained.
According to the preliminary information, ten people have been detained in Simferopol. "The searches continue, and the number of detainees may grow," Denisova wrote on Facebook.
The Russian Supreme Court branded Hizb ut-Tahrir (the Islamic Party of Liberation) a terrorist organization and banned its activity in Russia in 2003. Hizb ut-Tahrir aims at establishing a caliphate, a theocratic state to unite the Islamic World.