A participant in the “Hizb ut-Tahrir case” sentenced to 14 years has been held for 10 months in a punishment cell in a prison colony in Tuva, a region in southern Siberia.

Bilal Adilov, a defendant in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case and father of six, has been held for about 10 months in a cell-type facility (PKT) at penal colony No. 1 in Kyzyl (Republic of Tuva, a region in southern Siberia). This was reported by Crimean Solidarity, citing Adilov’s wife, Gulnara Adilova.

The woman was not informed of the reason for his placement in the PKT. By law, men held in this type of high-security cell are not supposed to remain there for more than six months.

“I sent an enquiry to Penal Colony No. 1, wrote there and called, but no one gives me any answers,” Adilova said.

In March 2019, in annexed Crimea, there were mass raids, after which law enforcement detained Tofik Abdulgaziyev, Vladlen Abdulkadyrov, Izzet Abdullayev, Medzhit Abdurakhmanov, and Bilal Adilov.

In May 2022, the defendants were sentenced under articles for participating in the activities of a terrorist organisation (Part 2, Article 205.5 of the Russian Criminal Code) and preparing to violently overthrow the government (Article 278, with the application of Part 1, Article 30 of the Criminal Code). Adilov was given 14 years, and the others 12 years; all were sentenced to spend the first five years in prison, with the remainder in a strict-regime colony.

• Before his arrest, Bilal Adilov was involved in religious activities and played an active role in the public life of the Crimean Tatar community. He attended court hearings and supported the families of other political prisoners.
• At the end of October 2024, he was transferred to a colony in Kyzyl. Adilov’s family did not know his whereabouts for over two months.