Nine Individuals Convicted in the Moscow Hizb ut-Tahrir Case Are Political Prisoners, Memorial Says
The defendants were convicted on terrorism-related charges although the prosecution had no evidence that they committed or planned to commit crimes of violence
Nine Muslims arrested in Moscow in December 2016 — Khamid Igamberdyev, Zafar Nodirov, Farkhod Nodirov, Otabek Isomadinov, Sardorbek Siddikov, Aziz Khidirbayev, Olidzhon Odinaev, Sobirdzhon Burkhoniddini and Murodzhon Sattorov — were convicted in connection to their membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami and sentenced to terms in strict regime penal colonies ranging from 11 to 16 years.
Khamid Igamberdyev, Zafar Nodirov, and Farkhod Nodirov were convicted under Part One of Article 205.5 of the Russian Criminal Code (organisation of the activities of a terrorist organisation). The six others were sentenced under Part Two of Article 205.5 of the Russian Criminal Code (participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation). The sentences were handed down by the Moscow District Military Court in February 2019 and upheld by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in September 2019.
As in other cases of criminal prosecutions in connection to the participation in Hizb ut-Tahrir known to us, the defendants had organised meetings at which the topics for discussion were Hizb ut-Tahrir literature, means to attract supporters and how to work with them, religious and ideological questions, and also matters related to the imprisonment of Hizb ut-Tahrir members. The prosecution had no evidence that the defendants committed or planned to commit crimes of violence, still less any kind of actions that could be called terrorist in common sense terms.
Memorial believes that the ruling of the Supreme Court to designate Hizb ut-Tahrir as a terrorist organisation is mistaken. We consider there are no grounds for the charges laid against the defendants in the Moscow case and demand the convictions be quashed and those convicted be released.
Recognition of an individual as a political prisoner, or of a prosecution as politically motivated, does not imply that the Memorial Human Rights Centre shares or approves the individual’s views, statements or actions.
More information about the Moscow Case of Hizb ut-Tahrir can be read on the website of the Memorial Human Rights Centre.
