Blind political prisoner from Crimea Oleksandr Sizikov was imprisoned in Russia for up to 17 years

The Russian Military Court of Appeal approved a sentence of 17 years in prison for political prisoner, Crimean Oleksandr Sizikov, who is visually impaired: he will soon be sent to prison.

This was reported by human rights activist Lilia Hemedzhi, Crimean Solidarity writes.

During<span>the </span>court session, the<span>defense pointed out that the verdict of the court of first instance did not clarify the question of whether Sizikov could be in correctional institutions due to blindness and disability of the first group. </span>Nevertheless, the Court of Appeal not only upheld the verdict, but also ruled that his illness did not prevent him from serving his time in prison.

After the hearing on September 13, Sizikov went home. The measure of restraint in the form of house arrest, which is currently being applied to him, will remain in force until the Federal Penitentiary Service receives a court order with a seal. After that, the procedure for placing Sizikov first in a pre-trial detention center and then in prison will begin.

"I believe that this is not just cruel, it is illegal," - Hemedzhi said.

Oleksandr was detained on July 7, 2020, after searches at his friends' homes. The FSB believes that Sizikov "founded the Hizb ut-Tahrir terrorist cell in 2015. As evidence of Sizikov's guilt, the Russian secret service cites books of the religious and political association found during the search. However, they are not printed in Braille.

The illegal "judge" of the Kyiv District Court in Simferopol ,Olga Kuznetsova, chose house arrest as a preventive measure on the day of the detention of the Ukrainian citizen.

<i>"The court saw no grounds for release, believing that a relaxed measure of restraint would not ensure a proper trial of the defendant and would contradict the equality of private and public interests. The mitigated measure would also not meet the interests of justice in terms of timely consideration of the case," </i>Kuznetsova wrote in her decision. The "judge" banned the man from correspondence, access to the Internet and telephone conversations with anyone except his parents and doctors.

On October 14 of the same year, the 'court' decided to send Sizikov for a month for an inpatient forensic psychiatric examination at the Sevastopol City Psychiatric Hospital.

As a reminder, on February 14, 2003, at a closed court session, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized the Islamic political partyHizb ut-Tahrir as a terrorist organization. This religious organization legally operates in Ukraine, in particular in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Contrary to international humanitarian law , Russia uses its criminal law in Crimea.

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