At 4 am on 5 February 2025, Russian security forces began another wave of searches in occupied Crimea. The searches took place in the houses of Emir Kurtnezirov, Rustem Mustafaiev, Abibula Smedliaiev, Myrzaali Tazhybaiev and Bakhtiiar Ablaiev. After the searches, FSB officers detained all five on charges of involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir, a Pan-Islamic political party that is recognised as a terrorist organisation under Russian law but is not banned in Ukraine and most countries. Emir Kurtnezirov is the son of former Imam Remzi Kurtnezirov, who has a second group of disability. Since March 2024, Remzi Kurtnezirov has been under house arrest as a result of his prosecution on similar charges.
The wave of searches demonstrates the persistent repressive practice of the Russian occupation administration in Crimea, which was confirmed in the recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea). The searches began at four in the morning, when children and adults were sleeping at home. During the searches, Russian security forces seized so-called banned literature, which they themselves had planted near the stove, under the bed and on the sofa.
The Russian Federation is actively using terrorist legislation to persecute Crimean Tatar activists and independent Muslim communities. The annual resolution “Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol” has repeatedly pointed out that searches and raids in private homes by Russian law enforcement agencies disproportionately affect Crimean Tatars and that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibits such arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family and home. In addition to the latest detainees, 117 Ukrainian citizens have already been prosecuted in Crimea for alleged involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir. Most of them have received long prison sentences of up to 20 years and are serving their sentences in remote regions of the Russian Federation, thousands of kilometres away from their homes. This has a long-term traumatic impact on hundreds of families, as after the arrest of the main income earner, the wife is usually forced to provide for the family’s needs on her own, and the children grow up without their father’s attention. In this regard, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Russian Federation to immediately return all convicted persons who had previously been transferred from Crimea to the territory of the Russian Federation.
Moreover, the very process of searching and detaining parents by FSB agents has signs of inhuman treatment of children, which is confirmed by the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of A v. Russia.
The Russian occupiers are prosecuting Crimean Tatars for terrorism, but this persecution has nothing to do with the fight against terrorism. None of the detainees were found to have weapons, explosives or intent to commit a terrorist attack anywhere in the world. The only “evidence” of the Crimean Tatars’ guilt is literature planted during the searches, testimony of classified witnesses connected to the FSB, and linguistic expertise conducted by persons cooperating with Russian special services. At the same time, the Russian Federation systematically uses terror as a method of fighting disloyal civilians in the occupied territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. In addition, regular air strikes on residential buildings, hospitals and energy facilities on the government-controlled territory of Ukraine are aimed at breaking the will of the Ukrainian people to resist the Russian invaders.
Emir Kurtnezirov, Rustem Mustafaiev, Abibula Smedliaiev, Myrzaali Tazhybaiev, Bakhtiiar Ablaiev and hundreds of other Ukrainian citizens could live a peaceful, quiet life on their land if not for the Russian occupation and repression. Ukrainian human rights organisations have repeatedly pointed out that abductions, torture, imprisonment, deportations and other atrocities against Ukrainian citizens will not stop as long as Russian troops remain on the territory of Ukraine. The current wave of repression in Crimea is to some extent made possible by the international community’s ineffective sanctions policy towards Russia and its failure to provide Ukraine with the necessary assistance to effectively exercise its inherent right to self-defence.
Therefore, we call on foreign governments and international organisations, including the members of the International Crimean Platform, to:
- Adopt a statement with a strong consolidated protest against today’s searches and detentions of Emir Kurtnezirov, Rustem Mustafaiev, Abibula Smedliaiev, Myrzaali Tazhybaiev and Bakhtiiar Ablaiev;
- Increase comprehensive, including military, support for Ukraine to de-occupy all territories of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula, as de-occupation is a precondition for the protection and restoration of human rights;
- Impose personal sanctions against those involved in today’s searches and detentions;
- Provide comprehensive support to victims of political repression in Crimea and other occupied territories of Ukraine, their families and lawyers;
- Continue to monitor and document human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Crimea and other occupied territories of Ukraine and include them in regular reports on the human rights situation in Ukraine;
- Assist the Government of Ukraine in investigating war crimes, crimes against humanity and human rights violations in Crimea and other occupied territories of Ukraine;
- Increase diplomatic, sanctions and other pressure on the Russian Federation to prevent new atrocities in occupied Crimea and mainland Ukraine, as well as to speed up the de-occupation of all Ukrainian territories;
- Make maximum use of the International Crimean Platform, the International Platform for the Release of Ukrainian Civilians Illegally Detained by Russia, the mechanisms of the UN, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and other international organisations to speed up the release of arbitrarily detained civilians in Crimea and other occupied territories of Ukraine and bring closer the de-occupation of all Ukrainian territories;
- Promote the expansion of the International Crimean Platform and the International Platform for the Release of Ukrainian Civilians Illegally Detained by Russia, involving states of the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America;
- Promote the expansion of the mandate of the Register of Damage of the Council of Europe to cover the damage caused by the actions of the Russian Federation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, Donetsk and Luhansk regions since 2014;
- Promote the creation of a mechanism to bring the political and military leadership of the Russian Federation to justice for the crime of aggression against Ukraine as the root cause of all other international crimes on the territory of Ukraine.
NGO CrimeaSOS
Human Rights Centre ZMINA
NGO Human Rights House Crimea
NGO Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners of the Kremlin
NGO Crimean Process
NGO Regional Center for Human Rights
NGO Center for Civil Liberties
PLATFORM FOR THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS
Crimean Human Rights Group
