Ukrainian consul met in a Russian colony on November 1 with the illegally convicted Crimean citizen of Ukraine Ruslan Zeitullayev, who was charged with creating a unit of the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization banned in Russia.
“Yesterday, due to the actions of our consuls, we managed to visit Zeytullayev in Bashkortostan … In general, he did not complain about conditions of his detention,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariana Betsa said in a commentary to Interfax-Ukraine on November 2.
According to her, the meeting lasted about three hours.
“The issue of his release and transfer to Ukraine remains the key one,” Betsa said.
As reported, on September 7, 2016, the North Caucasus District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Ruslan Zeytullayev to seven years’ imprisonment for participation in a unit of the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization banned in Russia.
Investigators claim Zeytullayev organized a regional undercover unit of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Sevastopol, and the rest of the defendants were recruiters into the organization declared terrorist in the territory of Russia.
A repeated consideration of Zeytullayev’s case started in early March 2017.
On April 4, Zeytullayev announced an indefinite hunger strike. He said that in this way he is seeking to restore justice for his fellow convicted Crimean Tatars and himself.
On April 26, the North Caucasus District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Zeytullayev to twelve years in penal colony.
