Muslims held in Crimean detention facility are forced to eat pork

Conditions in Simferopol detention center are beyond all bearing – lawyer

The Muslims arrested in relation to the Hizb Ut-Tahrir case in the Russian-occupied Crimea are not tortured. Instead, the penal authorities of Simferopol’s prison give them meals with pork, which is forbidden by Islam. This is according to lawyer Oleksandr Popkov.

‘The conditions in the detention center are intolerable. I am afraid, this creates an additional pressure when they give to the detainees meals cooked on the pork broth 3 times a day. The cells are overcrowded, they sleep only in turns – one after another, the bedbugs and mosquitos are literally eating them,’ lawyer says.

The human rights activists had repeatedly raised concerns about the intolerable conditions in the Crimean prisons.

On February 11-12, 2016 the Russian security forces of the occupied peninsula conducted a number of searches and seizures in the homes of Crimean Tatars. 14 people were detained, but only four were arrested. The Contact Group on Human Rights member from Yalta Emir-Hussein Kuku, Enver Bekirov, Muslim Aliyev, and Vadym Siruk were accused of participation in the Hizb Ut-Tahrir organization that is banned in Russia.

On June 22, 2016 Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights Valeriya Lutkovska has confirmed that Ukraine and Russia have agreed on the handover of prisoners from the detention facility in Simferopol to Ukraine.

Last year Ukraine’s parliament has officially proclaimed February 20, 2014 as the beginning of the temporary occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia. International organizations slammed Crimea occupation and annexation as illegal and condemned Moscow’s actions.

Consequently, the Western countries introduced a number of sanctions against Russia. Russia declined to acknowledge the occupation of the peninsula and in its turn labelled it as a ‘restoration of historical justice’.

Source: http://uatoday.tv