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Lenur Seydametov, a Crimean Tatar sentenced to 13 years in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case, has been transferred from the Yelets prison in Lipetsk Oblast to Correctional Colony No. 3 in the village of Srednebelaya, Amur Oblast in Russia’s Far East. This was reported by “Crimean Solidarity” with reference to his wife, Adzhire Seydametova.
He is currently being held in Pre-Trial Detention Centre No. 1 in Blagoveshchensk, a city near the Russian-Chinese border. He told his wife that during the transfer he spent time in several penal institutions, but due to being kept in quarantine, he was unable to send letters to let her know where he was.
“Now that the transfer is over, we need to work out how to reach him. That’s 8,200 kilometres [from Simferopol, where his family lives],” said Adzhire Seydametova.
Crimean Tatars Lenur Seydametov and Timur Yalkabov were arrested on 17 February 2021. This happened after mass raids were carried out in Crimea the same morning. At least seven people, including Seydametov and Yalkabov, were charged with organising the activities of, or participating in, a terrorist organisation.
In March 2022, the Southern District Military Court sentenced the defendants of the so-called third Simferopol group in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case, Seydametov and Yalkabov, to 13 and 17 years in a strict regime colony, respectively. Both were to spend the first four years of their sentence in prison. After their release from the colony, the court imposed additional restrictions on their freedom: one and a half years for Yalkabov, and one year for Seydametov.
The men were found guilty under articles concerning terrorist organisations: Yalkabov was charged with organising such an organisation (Part 1, Article 205.5 of the Russian Criminal Code), while Seydametov was charged with participating in it (Part 2, Article 205.5). Both were also accused of preparation for the violent seizure of power (Article 278 with reference to Article 30). Investigators alleged they held “clandestine meetings” of Hizb ut-Tahrir in one of the houses in Simferopol.
27 June Lenur Seydametov arrived at Correctional Colony No. 3 in the village of Srednebelaya, Amur Oblast. This was reported by “Crimean Solidarity.” He was brought to the colony on 25 June. “At the moment, he is being held in a quarantine cell, his health is satisfactory. They serve pork, so he has to eat instant noodles,” his wife Adzhire Seydametova told the publication.
- In January 2023, Seydametov was transferred to a prison in the city of Yelets, Lipetsk Oblast, in European Russia. He spoke of health problems, including hearing loss in one ear and a Baker’s cyst in his knee which made it difficult to sit or lie down for long periods. He needed two operations, including one on the lower spine.