The Kiev District Court of Simferopol granted the petition of the FSB investigator and extended the arrest of the Crimean Tatars. Osman Abdurazakov, Leman Zekeryaev, Ekrem Krosh, Khalil Mambetov and Refat Seydametov will stay in the pre-trial detention center for another three months, until September 23.

The investigator argued his petition by the fact that if a milder preventive measure is chosen, the defendants “may hide or put pressure on witnesses.” At the same time, the materials of the criminal case refer to the events of 2015 – since then, the residents of the Dzhankoy district detained in 2023 have not made any attempts to leave.

Lawyer Siyar Panich spoke in court in defense of 68-year-old Khalil Mambetov. He stated that in the conditions of the pre-trial detention center, his illness, heart failure, worsened. However, the court extended the arrest of all detainees.

Crimean Tatars are accused of participating in the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir. It is banned in the Russian Federation, but legally operates in Ukraine and other countries of the world. The defendants are charged with meetings and talks on religious and political topics, however, the Memorial Human Rights Center reports that they are being persecuted for criticizing the Russian authorities.