SIMFEROPOL, April 18. /TASS/. Two followers of the Hizb ut-Tahrir terrorist organization have been detained in Crimea, the republic’s Prosecutor General Natalia Poklonskaya told TASS on Monday.
"A criminal case has been opened against two residents of Yalta over involvement in the activities of the organization recognized as terrorist under Russian law (Part 2 Article 205.5). These persons have been detained as part of the investigation of this criminal case. Investigative actions to collect evidence with regard to these persons are carried out," Poklonskaya said.
She noted that the Hizb ut-Tahrir cell had existed in Crimea for many years. "It is a local cell that has existed and was allowed since the time of Ukraine," she said.
In February 2016, officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in Crimea and Sevastopol detained four members of the terrorist organization’s cell that operated in Yalta and Alushta. They are currently in custody, and a criminal case against them is investigated.
Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation) is an international religious and political organization founded in 1953 in Jerusalem whose aim is the elimination of non-Islamic governments and return of Muslims to the "true Islamic way of life." In 2003, it was declared a terrorist organization by Russia’s Supreme Court and banned.