Crimean activists Osman Arifmemetov and Yashar Muedinov made their final speech via video link at a meeting of the Military Court of Appeal in Vlasikha. Both rejected the prosecution's arguments.
“What non-procedural relations connect judges and FSB investigators that the former accept from the latter only on their word of honor?” said Arifmemetov.
Muedinov, in turn, called for an end to repression in Crimea: “After darkness, light comes anyway. We all walk under the Lord God.”
On November 24, 2022, the Southern Military Court found Crimean Tatar activists guilty of terrorist activities and an attempt to seize power. Yashar Muedinov was sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security colony, Osman Arifmemetov – to 14 years. Both were accused of membership in the Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation, but operates freely in Ukraine and European countries.
