Five Crimean residents given combined 88 years in jail for participation in Hizb ut-Tahrir banned in Russia

SIMFEROPOL. March 10 (Interfax) - The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced five Crimean residents to long prison terms from 15 to 19 years in the case against Hizb ut-Tahrir (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia) on Thursday, the court's press service said.

Thus, Riza Izetov and Remzi Bekirov were given 19 years each in a high-security penal colony, Shaban Umerov 18 years, Raim Ayvazov 17 years (all of them will serve their first five years in prison), Farhod Bazarov 15 years of imprisonment (the first four years and 10 months in prison).

The Crimeans were found guilty, depending on their role, on the charges of setting up a terrorist organization or participating in its activities, and preparing for a violent seizure of power.

"It was established that Bekirov, Izetov, Ayvazov, and Umerov in 2016 in Simferopol and in the Simferopol district organized the activities of a cell of the banned terrorist organization Islamic Liberation Party (Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami, banned as a terrorist organization), which was later joined by Bazarov," the statement said.

The sentence has not entered into legal force and can be appealed by the litigating parties at the Military Court of Appeal in Vlasikha, Moscow Region.

Hizb ut-Tahrir has been recognized as a terrorist organization by the Russian Supreme Court since 2003 and is banned in the country.