RUSSIA: A court sentenced the candidate for membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Sova (18.04.2024) – On April 17, 2024, the Southern District Military Court sentenced a citizen of Tajikistan Haydarali Ashurov. The court found him guilty of preparing to participate in a terrorist organization (Part 2 of Art. 205.5 with the application of Part 1 of Art. 30 of the Criminal Code), public calls for extremism (Part 1 of Art. 280 of the Criminal Code) and justification of terrorism (Part 1 of Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code). He was sentenced to seven years in prison with the first three years in prison, and the balance in a maximum security colony.
The arrest of the previously convicted of theft of Ashurov was reported on June 9, 2022. In total, 13 people suspected of involvement in the radical Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia, were detained in Rostov at that time.
According to the investigation, with which the court agreed, from April 21, 2020, Ashurov was preparing to join Hizb ut-Tahrir and for this purpose studied its ideology on the acquired literature and video materials from the Internet. In 2021, he asked a former party member to help him join it, but was refused. Even after that, Ashurov did not abandon his aspirations, the court believes.
In addition, from April 26 to August 23, 2020, Ashurov held “public meetings” in Rostov-on-Don, during which, according to the investigation and the court, he spoke approvingly about the activities of terrorist organizations and the need to commit violent actions against a certain group of people on the basis of attitude to religion.
After his detention, Ashurov stated that he did not admit guilt, we note that he did not know the persons who testified against him, and also did not own banned books seized by operatives during a search at his place of residence.
We believe that the ban on the Islamic Hizb ut-Tahrir party is not groundless, but the prosecution under Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code for involvement in it (holding meetings, reading literature, etc.) in the absence of convincing accusations of other terrorist crimes leads to a clearly disproportionate punishment.
As for the charges under Articles 280 and 205.2 of the Criminal Code, we cannot assess them, although we must note that in such cases the court should carefully study the degree of public danger of statements. For more information about the problem of assessing such charges and the proportionality of the penalties imposed, see here.
Sources
- It has been established that from April 21, 2020, the defendant in the city of Rostov-on-Don was preparing to take part in the activities of the banned international terrorist organization “Party of Islamic Liberation” (“Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami”) // Southern District Military Court. Telegram. 2024. April 18.
- Criminal case card № 1-58/2024 (1-238/2023;) // Southern District Military Court. 2024. April 18.
HRWF comment
The HRWF Database of FORB Prisoners does not include prisoners charged of being members of Hizb Ut-Tahrir for the following reasons. Hizb Ut-Tahrir means “Liberation Party” and describes itself as a “global Islamic political party and/or religious society” (European Court of Human Rights Hizb Ut-Tahrir and Others v. Germany). Hizb Ut-Tahrir is identified by the ECtHR as a Muslim political movement, not a religious community. While we contend their members cannot be considered FORB prisoners (Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights), we consider they can be prisoners of conscience if they are arbitrarily arrested and sentenced to prison terms despite non-violent activities.
See as well HRWF articles “UK: Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami proscribed as a terrorist group” and “UK: Hizb ut-Tahrir proscribed as a terrorist group and the European Court”