This year alone, three Crimean Imams have faced prosecution for praying in their own mosques, with Russia claiming this to be ‘unlawful missionary activity’. Serhiy Filatov, a Jehovah’s Witness from Dzhankoy is imprisoned, awaiting his appeal against a six-year prison sentence for having worshiped with others in his own home. Although Filatov and 55 Crimean Tatar and other Ukrainian Muslims are formally imprisoned for supposed ‘extremism’ or ‘terrorism’, the ‘evidence’ presented in all cases pertains to how the men worship, and their religious views.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
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Halya Coynash: Russia imposes monopoly on faith in Crimea
Crimean Tatars pray inside a mosque during the sacrificial Eid al-Adha festival in Yevpatoria, Crimea, on Sept. 24, 2015.
