Mosque searched and punished for banned literature in Crimea

In Crimea, an independent Muslim community was fined hundreds of thousands of rubles. Banned literature was "found" in the mosque after gross procedural violations.

This was reported by Crimean Solidarity.

The Kirovsky District Court in occupied Crimea imposed a fine of 400 thousand rubles on the independent religious Muslim community Eski Qirim. The reason was the accusation of distributing extremist materials, after security forces allegedly found banned literature in the Zubeir-Jami mosque in Staryi Krym.

According to the lawyer of the community Nazim Sheikhmambetov, law enforcement officers entered the mosque without witnesses, first de-energized the building, and then entered the prayer hall. Only after that they called witnesses and allegedly found banned literature. According to the human rights activist, this sequence of actions indicates gross violations of the procedure, but the court ignored these arguments.

In addition, the community is not the legal owner of the mosque, but is registered at a different address. The lawyer emphasized that the protocol was based only on a subjective interpretation of the "actual use" of the premises. Idris Yurdamov, the head of the community, also spoke in court and said that the Religious Administration of Muslims of Crimea had not been conducting religious rites in the mosque for a long time.

As noted in the media, this is the second fine for the community in a year. In March 2024, the court already imposed a fine of 100 thousand rubles on Eski Qirim on a similar charge - the book "The System of Islam" by Taqiuddin al-Nabhani was the basis for the fine. According to security forces, the community allegedly kept it for further distribution.

According to defense lawyers and religious leaders, Eski Qirim is a legally registered community that is not associated with extremist activities. However, its representatives have recently been regularly subjected to pressure from law enforcement agencies. For example, in February 2024, the homes of the head of the community, Yurdamov, and Imam Izet Sayfulin were searched - the latter was charged with "violating the rules of missionary activity."

In early July, the European Court of Human Rights recognized that the persecution of Crimean residents for so-called discrediting of the Russian army violates Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression. This refers to fines and detention for public statements that the occupiers interpret as criticizing the army.

Анна Бальчінос