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For the fifth time, security forces have stopped a car carrying a group of Crimean Tatars who were heading to Tatyana Moskalkova, the Commissioner for Human Rights, reports ‘Crimean Solidarity.’

The delegation, consisting of 16 people, was travelling to Moscow to demand the release of four Crimean Tatar women from a pre-trial detention centre.

A taxi carrying some of the delegates was stopped five minutes from Moskalkova’s office. The delegates’ passports were confiscated, but after a conversation they were released. Police demanded that they return to the location where their minibuses, in which they had arrived from Crimea, were parked.

Nevertheless, the parents of the women managed to reach Moskalkova’s reception and submit an appeal calling for their daughters’ release, as well as 6,500 signatures in support of the women.

1 November The parents of those detained also submitted an appeal to the presidential administration.

‘They are undeservedly accused of terrorism and attempting to seize power. Our outrage knows no bounds—how can such charges be brought? This is beyond comprehension for normal, reasonable people. We brought signatures collected by people everywhere, expressing their indignation at this situation,’ said Elviza Aliyeva’s mother, one of the detained women.

  • After searches on 15 October in Crimea, authorities arrested 18-year-old Nasiba Saidova, 20-year-old Elviza Aliyeva, 21-year-old Fevziye Osmanova and 39-year-old Esma Nimetulaeva. Esma Nimetulaeva has five underage daughters left at home. Their father is also being held in a pre-trial detention centre on similar charges.
  • The women are accused of organising the activities of a terrorist organisation (part 1, article 205.5 of the Criminal Code) or participating in it (part 2, article 205.5). According to the security forces, they are linked to the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. This is the first criminal case in Crimea involving Hizb ut-Tahrir in which women have been charged.
  • Relatives of the detained women say the women are being held in damp, unheated cells, and during inspections are forced to remove their headscarves even in the presence of men.