UPDATED A Russian court has passed appalling sentences against two sons of a renowned Crimean Tatar historian and their uncle, as well as of a civic journalist with a life-threatening heart condition

Rustem Emiruseinov, Eskender Abdulganiev and Arsen Abkhairov have learned first-hand the terribly high price Russia exacts from those unwilling to look away when fellow Crimean Muslims are facing persecution

A Russian-controlled ‘court’ in occupied Crimea has sentenced 49-year-old Igor Schmidt to six years’ imprisonment for practising his faith as a Jehovah’s Witness.

Fifteen Crimean Tatars were detained on 11 October merely for gathering outside a ‘court’ in occupied Crimea to show solidarity with three political prisoners, facing 17,13 and 12-year sentences for similar acts of solidarity

The court chooses not to see the dodgy nature of an unqualified ‘expert assessment’ and testimony’ of two secret witnesses, one of whom faces prison in Latvia if he refuses to collaborate with the FSB

The FSB’s ‘religious expert’ clearly has no idea of the names of the prophets, religious figures, etc. – just what the FSB want him to say to get men imprisoned for 20 years

The physical violence and shocking religious discrimination that Servet Gaziev suffered was probably in reprisal for refusing to vote in Russia’s ‘elections’

Russia’s FSB have based the ‘terrorism’ charges laid against Oleh Fedorov* and Ernest Ibragimov on discussions of religious themes although the conversations were illicitly taped back in 2016 and January 2017.

Serhiy Lyulin, a Jehovah"s Witness from Yalta, is facing a 10 year sentence after being seized, while in Russia, thrown into the boot of a minivan and driven, in handcuffs and bound with scotch tape, for 16 hours to occupied Simferopol

58-year-old Azamat Eyupov is facing a 15-20-year sentence without any crime, on the basis of planted ‘prohibited literature’ and a taped conversation although the voice on the tape is not his.

Ruslan Suleimanov’s conscience and upbring made it impossible for him to ignore mounting repression, even when he received the first warnings of likely reprisals. The FSB then came for him

Russia’s latest ‘trial’ of three Ukrainian Muslims from occupied Crimea has had to be adjourned, with the material sent back to the prosecutor for it to be translated into Braille

Russia, which is internationally condemned for its illegal occupation of Ukrainian Crimea, claimed that such worship constituted ‘unlawful missionary activities’

The message could not be clearer: demonstrate solidarity with political prisoners and you could be next

A Russian court has sentenced four recognized Crimean Tatar political prisoners to sentences from 12 to 18 years, although not one of the men was accused of any recognizable crime

Ruslan Nagayev gave a powerful final address on 12 August to the Russian court about to pass ‘sentence’ on him and three other recognized Crimean Tatar political prisoners

Major Russian NGOs have addressed an important appeal to two UN Special Rapporteurs over Russia’s violation of the right to religious freedom and freedom of association through its persecution of Muslims on trumped up charges.

Russia’s persecution of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and its believers has hit a new low

A Russian-controlled ‘court’ in occupied Crimea has upheld the appalling 6.5-year sentence passed on Viktor Stashevsky. The news comes a week after new arrests

Russia is using ‘terrorism’ charges against Crimean Tatar political prisoners, with the FSB involved in such flawed cases known to receive bonuses or promotion