Rustem Vaitov has been punished for refusing to inform on other prisoners and Russia is ignoring the European Court of Human Rights by imprisoning him, Ferat Saifullaev and Nuri Primov thousands of kilometres from their families. All of them have children

Courts in Russian-occupied Crimea have now begun banning relatives and friends from attending court hearings – the only chance many have of seeing the imprisoned men. Most incredibly, the FSB has now told a court that the men should remain in custody as they are recognized internationally as political prisoners!

Ruslan Zeytullaev, one of the first men tried for unproven involvement in an organization which is legal in Ukraine has demanded an end to persecution of his people, and announced a hunger strike until specific demands are met. Zeytullaev addressed his demands to the Russian military court in Rostov where he is currently being retried after his initial sentence was quashed as spoiling the FSB’s story

Teymur Abdullaev, one of 19 Crimean Muslims held illegally in indefinite detention in Russian-occupied Crimea has been placed in a punishment cell for writing a letter to his family in Crimean Tatar. The guards considered that only Russian was acceptable.

If 2 men arrested on Feb 11, 2016 were probably targeted for their human rights or civic activism, it is likely that Vadim Siruk was arrested as an ethnic Ukrainian convert to Islam. Lawyers representing the ever-increasing number of political prisoners in Russian-occupied Crimea have long noted a clear pattern: Devout Muslims are accused of ‘terrorism’; other Ukrainians – of ‘extremism’.

The retrial is underway in Russia of a Crimean Tatar whose 7-year prison sentence for alleged involvement in a peaceful organization that is legal in Ukraine was challenged as too light. There was no evidence against Ruslan Zeitullaev, and remains none, but he is likely to get a minimum 15-year sentence to to save the FSB being asked uncomfortable questions.

It is a year since the multiple armed searches of at least 11 homes in Russian-occupied Crimea and arrests of four men, including a human rights activist monitoring rights abuses under occupation. The four men remain imprisoned, facing absurd charges, and in at least one case, their children have been terrorized by the FSB.

Russia is continuing to use docile judges in occupied Crimea to impose unwarranted penalties on Crimean Tatars for entirely peaceful demonstrations of solidarity with families facing armed searches and arrests

Russia is already holding Crimean Muslims in detention for unproven involvement in an organization which is legal in Ukraine. It has now begun adding the charge of ‘attempting violent seizure of power in Russia’ with this carrying a near-guaranteed increase in sentence of from 12 to 20 years. .

Russia has added Crimean Tatar Mejlis leader Ilmi Umerov to its notoriously long list of so-called ‘Terrorists and Extremists’ for saying, as do all democratic states, that Russia should be made to leave Crimea. With its customary contempt for presumption of innocence, it has also added all 19 Crimean Muslims whom it is holding in custody and charging with unproven involvement in an organization which is legal in Ukraine.

On Dec 27, Russia’s Supreme Court allowed the prosecutor’s appeal against Ruslan Zeitullayev’s 7-year sentence (as opposed to the 17-year sentence demanded) and sent the ‘case’ for retrial. The Court rejected the appeals brought by Ferat Saifullayev; Rustem Vaitov and Nuri Primov against their 5-year sentences.

At least one of the Crimean Muslims facing fabricated ‘terrorism’ charges under Russian occupation has reported being tortured and threatened when brought to court hearings and a lawyer reports that FSB special force officers are present and used as a menacing threat when the men are taken to see the investigator.

Emir-Huseyn Kuku, a human rights activist imprisoned in Russian-occupied Crimea on gravely flawed charges has been placed in a psychiatric clinic. This is purportedly for a ‘psychiatric assessment’, but the lack of any grounds and forced hospitalization make charges of punitive psychiatry in his case and that of five other prisoners arrested with him warranted.

The Charter of Muslims of Ukraine and its affirmation of support for Ukraine’s unity are especially vital given the challenges brought by Russia’s occupation of Crimea and military conflict in Donbas.

Muslim Aliev, a Crimean Tatar held in detention since armed and masked men burst into his home, terrifying his children, in February this year, has now been forcibly placed in a psychiatric clinic in Simferopol. There are fears that he and other political prisoners will face undisclosed ‘psychiatric treatment’.

After placing Crimean Tatar leader Ilmi Umerov’s life in danger through effective imprisonment in a psychiatric institution, the Russian FSB in occupied Crimea are now planning forced ‘psychiatric assessments’ of Crimean Tatar human rights activist Emir-Huseyn Kuku and five other Crimean Muslims. Their lawyers have condemned the move as unacceptable pressure on the men.

The abductions, disappearances, politically motivated trials seen in Crimea since Russia’s invasion have long been a bitter reality in the Russian Federation. Some seem particularly cynical from a regime which seized control through the use of armed soldiers without insignia and lawless paramilitaries

Archbishop Kliment, the Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Kyiv Patriarchate in Crimea, was detained on Oct 19. He was released this time but fears that Russia may be planning to ban him from occupied Crimea as it has Mustafa Dzhemliev and others

Five more Crimean Tatars are in custody in Russian-occupied Crimea accused of involvement in an organization which is legal in Ukraine. The five men are all devout Muslims and some at least have this year or last taken part in the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. Under Russian occupation, no more appears to be needed to face imprisonment on concocted ‘terrorism’ charges.

There are absolutely no grounds, but the case against Ruslan Zeytullaev; Ferat Saifullayev; Rustem Vaitov and Nuri Primov now looks bad for the prosecutor, since even the court in Rostov could not ignore the lack of any evidence to back the charges and passed the minimum sentences possible.