Crimean Solidarity writes about this.

Lawyer Marlen Khalikov and an interpreter of the Crimean Tatar language worked on the video conference from the Crimean Garrison Military Court. Before the trial, about 60 people gathered on the street to challenge the conviction.

“People express their indignation that the court is judging an expert on Islam", - lawyer Emil Kurbedinov said.

According to citizen journalists, the police stood near the court with batons and bulletproof vests, 2-3 people were patrolling the area.

During the court debate, the defence pointed out that the accusation was based on a contradictory decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation from 2003 on the recognition of “Hizb ut-Tahrir” as a terrorist organization.

In the civil proceedings in 2003, no issues could be identified that could only be identified in criminal proceedings; neither this decision nor the accompanying documents under this decision contain any circumstances of the terrorist activity of HT (in the concept of the Federal Law “On Countering Terrorism”). The decision was made based on a law that lost its legal force back in 2007, lawyer Emil Kurbedinov explained.

Source: Crimean Solidarity

The defence considers other evidence of the accusation to be fabrication and falsification. In particular, the use of a secret witness, who was identified as a man named Adnan Masri. The lawyers argue that the secret witness “roams” from one criminal case to another under various pseudonyms, and in some of them, he has appeared as an open witness for the prosecution.

Emil Kurbedinov drew attention to the fact that on the video, this man persuaded Vadim to sit down so that his face could be seen on a hidden camera and, he also asked provocative questions.

“The prosecution did not provide any evidence to refute these defence arguments. And if the prosecution had only collected data to refute the arguments of the defence, the very first request they would receive an answer that these premises where Vadim was secretly recorded on video, are owned by a security officer", -  Kurbedinov said.

Source: Crimean Solidarity

In addition, the expertise of a psychologist, linguist and theologian were not scientifically substantiated and contained direct signs of falsification of concepts and materials. Expert Dubrovsky described this in his work and confirmed it during the interrogation in court.

“In Crimea, the persecution of members of Hizb ut-Tahrir fulfils another task of the security forces, namely, the suppression of a historically disloyal group - the Crimean Tatars (with rare exceptions, all defendants in the cases belong to this ethnic group). In 2014, they reacted negatively to the annexation of the peninsula and had been persecuted ever since", -  lawyer Marlen Khalikov said.

Source: Crimean Solidarity

What is known

• Vadym Bektemirov holds a Master’s degree in Islamic Studies from the Faculty of Arabic Literature and Humanities.
• Before his arrest, he held prayers in support of the families of political prisoners and attended court hearings on politically motivated cases.
• Bektemirov was arrested on July 7, 2020, after another mass search in occupied Crimea. He was charged under Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Participation in the activities of a terrorist organization”).
• On January 2, the public prosecutor asked the court to sentence Bektemirov to 12 years in a maximum-security prison with the first three years in prison.

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