The Muslim, and not only the Muslim, community of Russia should pay special attention to the case of Ayrat Dilmukhametov, and here’s why. On March 14 this year in Bashkortostan, a politician who was considered the most prominent opposition leader in the republic and who had nominated himself for the position of its head was arrested.
The local leadership of Navalny’s headquarters expressed its support for the candidacy of «Bashkir Navalny» in these elections, and its members subsequently organized a food delivery for Dilmukhametov. The arrest of Dilmukhametov himself, who had already been in prison three times for political reasons, did not surprise anyone, including himself. When he was released a year ago, instead of leaving the country and seeking political asylum like another prisoner of conscience, Rafis Kashapov from neighboring Tatarstan, he began advocating the creation of a new Bashkir Republic and Russian Federation. Few doubted that this would result in his arrest at best.
However, many were shocked when it became clear that this time they planned to imprison him not for a few years, as had been done before under «extremist» articles, but for 10-15 years. This is clearly indicated by the number and nature of the new articles of the Russian Criminal Code under which he is now being charged. The content of all his possible speeches and publications, which are currently under investigation, the outcome of which leaves little doubt, is being raised.
What does this case show? Russian Muslims have already gotten used to the fact that in recent years, in addition to participation in the war in Syria (real or imagined), long-term prison sentences have been handed down for membership in the Hizb ut-Tahrir party, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia but operates freely in many Western countries. Incidentally, «justifying terrorism» is another charge brought against Dilmukhametov precisely because he spoke out against the repression of members of this party.
But the fact that an opposition politician active in the Russian public sphere is imprisoned not for a few years for extremism, and not for a «decent» term for being accused of plotting the murder of someone like Vladimir Kvachkov, or for a combination of economic crimes like Mikhail Khodorkovsky, but for 10 years because of his speeches, such precedents have not yet occurred. Imagine that tomorrow Alexei Navalny or some opposition politician and blogger will be sentenced to 10 years specifically for their speeches. And today this is exactly what Dilmukhametov is threatened with, and it is absolutely clear that in this case it will become a precedent that will quickly spread throughout the country.
By the way, there are already rumors circulating among some human rights activists and public activists that in the coming months the law enforcement agencies plan to launch an unprecedentedly harsh campaign to «cleanse» the opposition field, ranging from arrests with draconian sentences to liquidations «in case of resistance during detention». Who knows, perhaps Dilmukhametov’s case will be the first harbinger of this?
We will follow the developments and keep our readers informed. In the meantime, those who live in Russia and wish to help Dilmukhametov can support his elderly, lonely mother (his father died during his previous term of imprisonment) by donating to the Sberbank account: 4274 2716 2662 1831, in the name of Agiyash Sameevna Dilmukhametova, Mobile Bank at +79273516654.