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109 Crimeans are being jailed for political or religious sentences - human rights defenders

28.01.2021, 09:30
109 residents of the occupied Crimea were held in custody on politically or religiously motivated sentences until the end of 2020, the Crimean Human Rights Group (CHRG) reports.

Source: "Gordon"

The CHRG stressed that since 2019, none of the political prisoners have been released, and in 2020, Russian "courts" have imprisoned at least 24 more people for political or religious reasons:

So, 10 people were imprisoned in the "case of Crimean Muslims", one of them is under house arrest, but he was sent to a medical institution for compulsory psychiatric examination. Six people - on charges of involvement in "Jehovah's witnesses". Two people - on charges of involvement in the "illegal" battalion named after Noman Celebijikhan. Four people are charged with preparing sabotage, storing weapons and spying for Ukraine. Two are detained on charges of calling for the return of Crimea under the control of Ukraine.

In 2020, 15 sentences were passed related to imprisonment in politically motivated cases. 10 of them were convicted for a period of 12 to 19 years. These 10 convictions were given to Crimean Muslims.

And also, human rights activists note, for the first time one acquittal was passed in the "case of Crimean Muslims" - it was passed to Ernest Ametov, who was in jail for three years.

The CHRH documented 172 "court" judgments on detention or extension of terms of detention adopted in 2020 in the occupied Crimea as part of politically motivated persecution. Some prisoners were illegally taken to the territory of the Russian Federation, where such decisions were made by Russian courts.