On October 25, in the city of Simferopol, Russian security forces illegally detained Crimean Tatar activists near the building of the occupation “Crimean Garrison Military Court” under Russian control and the lawyers who provided them with defense.

The activists gathered to hear the lawyers who were supposed to take part in the consideration of the appeal against the sentence of the defendants in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case via video conference.

Among the detainees: coordinator of the “Crimean Solidarity” Dilyaver Memetov and correspondents of the “Crimean Solidarity” – Zidan Adzhikelyamov, Ruslan Paralamov and Forver Ibragimov.

A report was drawn up against lawyer Edem Semedlyayev under Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation. This is a direct obstruction of professional advocacy and deprivation of the right to defend detainees.

The Mission condemns the illegal actions of the occupation authorities of Crimea to restrict freedom of speech, in particular the detention of Ukrainian citizens and obstruction of journalistic and professional advocacy.

Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union – UHHRU Crimea_ SOS Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners of the Kremlin ZMINA. Ukrainian Human Rights Center Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group Legal Hundred Crimean Human Rights Group Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.