Russians sentenced Crimean Tatar to 7 years for transferring US$13.67 to friend

The Russian-controlled Kyiv District Court of Simferopol has sentenced Crimean Tatar Appaz Kurtamet to 7 years of imprisonment for allegedly transferring 500 hryvnias to the volunteer battalion Crimea.

Source: Dmytro Lubinets, ombudsman for human rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, on Telegram; Krym.Realii outlet

Quote from Lubinets: "7 years of imprisonment in a strict regime colony with the first year [to be spent] in prison. Such a sentence was passed by the Russian-controlled Kyiv District Court of Simferopol against Crimean Tatar Appaz Kurtamet.

The occupiers accused the 21-year-old boy of "financing" the Crimea volunteer battalion. ("the creation of an armed formation, the leadership of such formations or its financing", Article 208.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the investigation, he transferred 500 hryvnias (US$13.67) to a member of the battalion. In fact, Appaz lent this money to an acquaintance, who at that time entered the volunteer battalion."

Details: Russian security forces detained Kurtamet on 23 July 2022 at the administrative border with temporarily occupied Crimea, where he was heading to visit his relatives. The connection with him disappeared on the same day. His location was unknown until 8 October. The occupiers started the trial at the end of February this year.

Krym.Realii reported that the hearing in this case ended on 20 April. Judge Oxana Karchevskaya announced the verdict in the criminal case, found Kurtamet guilty and sentenced him to 7 years in prison, with the first year to be served in prison, and the rest of the term in a strict regime colony. The verdict has not yet taken effect. Lawyer Refat Yunusov announced that he intended to appeal the judge's decision in the Court of Appeals.

During court debates a day earlier, the prosecution demanded a 10-year prison sentence for Kurtamet, arguing that the defendant's guilt was fully proven during the investigation and trial. The defence insisted on Kurtamet's acquittal, believing that his actions did not constitute a crime.

According to Krym.Realii, Kurtamet lent his friend UAH 500 in July 2022. He was detained by Russian security forces in Henichesk on 22 July. He was sent to a filtration camp, in which, during a phone check, it turned out that an acquaintance of Kurtamet, to whom he had lent the money, was serving in the Crimea volunteer battalion. Investigators of the Russian FSB filed his loan as "funding of an illegal armed formation".

As Refat Chubarov, the chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, stated in his comment, "the case of Appaz Kurtamet revealed all the arbitrariness with which the occupying power acts".

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