40-year-old Rustem Emiruseinov responded to the mounting repression in occupied Crimea by standing in peaceful protest with a banner reading “Muslims are not terrorists”.  The Russian FSB came for him on 14 February 2019, and he is now facing a potential life sentence on the same fabricated and deeply flawed ‘terrorism’ charges as the men he was defending.

For almost six years, the Russian occupation regime has been trying to drive the Ukrainian Orthodox Church out of Crimea, with the reaction of Ukraine’s leaders varying from expressions of deep concern to very deep

A court in Rostov has banned any photos, videos or Internet streaming of the trial of eight Crimean Tatar civic activists, with this even extending to before the hearings begin, and during breaks.

Russia’s Supreme Court has taken a mere two hours or so to consider the flawed charges against five Crimean Tatar political prisoners, and the lack of any evidence to back them, before upholding each of the men’s convictions

Crimean Tatar political prisoner Seiran Saliyev is facing identical charges in a Russian court to those once used by the Soviet regime to imprison his great-grandfather

A Russian court has sentenced 55-year-old Vladimir Alushkin to six years’ imprisonment for supposed ‘extremist activities’, namely reading the Bible and practising his faith

The fabricated charges against Muslim Aliev and five other Ukrainian Muslims have prompted Amnesty International to call all six men prisoners of conscience and the Memorial Human Rights Centre to recognize them as political prisoners

The Cathedral of Saints Vladimir and Olga in Simferopol has been vandalized and robbed in what is doubtless part of Russia’s ongoing offensive against the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and efforts to drive it out of Crimea.

Enver Seitosmanov, a 33-year-old recognized political prisoner, has been sentenced to 17 years’ maximum security imprisonment for his religious and political views

Crimean Solidarity has lodged an important new initiative in occupied Crimea, in which members of the community “become the voice” of the mounting number of political prisoners whom Russia has imprisoned for their faith and civic activism

Crimean Tatar human rights defender Emir-Usein Kuku has been sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment on bogus ‘terrorism’ charges because an attempt to abduct him went badly wrong. .

“The real terrorists are those who burst into the homes of people peacefully sleeping, who intimidate people who tell the truth; those who have turned a resort peninsula into a military base, bringing in thousands of items of military technology; and those who persecute and imprison people for their political and religious views.” – Vadim Siruk

Three days after a Russian court passed unprecedentedly long sentences against Crimean Tatar human rights activist Emir-Usein Kuku and five other Ukrainian political prisoners, the same Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has begun a new ‘trial’ of eight Crimean Tatars

Six Ukrainian political prisoners from occupied Crimea, including human rights activist Emir-Usein Kuku, have been sentenced to unprecedently long terms of imprisonment on ‘terrorism’ charges without any crime

So what do you tell a Russian court whose judges know perfectly well that all six Ukrainian defendants are innocent but are still likely to pass guilty verdicts and long sentences, because that’s what is demanded of them?

A Russian prosecutor has demanded a record 20.5 year sentence against 55-year-old Crimean Tatar Inver Bekirov because the latter discussed religious issues with friends at the school where he worked as a guard.

Server Mustafayev, human rights activist and one of the coordinators of the Crimean Solidarity initiative, has been imprisoned since May 2018, with the last month and a half or more in conditions that amount to torture

Arsen Dzhepparov was probably arrested in April 2016 and is now facing a huge sentence because he refused to act as an FSB informer, providing false testimony aimed at imprisoning fellow Crimean Tatars

A ‘pre-investigation check’ has been ordered in Russian-occupied Crimea after a ‘prosecution witness’ in the trial of Crimean Tatar political prisoner Enver Seytosmanov stated in court that FSB officers had used physical and psychological pressure to force him into giving false testimony

These are the highest sentences demanded so far in Russia’s persecution of Ukrainian Muslims on deeply flawed charges which are increasingly used as a weapon against Crimean Tatar civic activists and journalists