During the searches carried out by security officials in the Russian-occupied Crimea, seven Crimean Tatars were detained on Monday, June 10.
Crimean Solidarity NGO says Russian law enforcers detained Eskender Suleymanov, Riza Omerov, Ayder Dzhepparov, Eldar Kantemirov, Ruslan Nagayev, Ruslan Mesutov, and Lenur Khalilov.
They are charged with participating in or organizing the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an organization considered "extremist" and banned in Russia
Earlier, overnight Monday, June 10, Enver Omerov was also detained as he was heading to mainland Russia's Rostov-on-Don to attend a hearing in one of the "Hizb ut-Tahrir cases."
Following the arrest, his son Riza's house was searched as well as those of a number of activists and families of suspects in the "Hizb ut-Tahrir cases."
As UNIAN reported earlier, after the occupation of Crimea by Russia, mass searches started of independent journalists, civil activists, activists of the Crimean Tatar national movement, members of the Mejlis, as well as Crimean Muslims suspected of links with the international Islamic political organization Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global organization based in London that seeks to unite all Muslim countries into an Islamic caliphate, while rejecting terror tools to achieve their goal.
The group has not been banned in Ukraine.
However, Russia's Supreme Court outlawed the organization in 2003, extending the ban to the occupied Crimea, branding the organization's supporters "extremists."
Read alsoRussia's FSB conducts new raids on Crimean Tatars' houses in occupied Crimea
Rights groups and Western governments have denounced what they describe as a campaign of repression by the Russian-imposed authorities in Crimea who are targeting members of the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar community and others who have spoken out against Moscow's seizure and annexation of the peninsula.
