Detention: In January 2023, Ekrem Krosh was detained by Russian security forces in a village in the Dzhankoy district following mass illegal searches. He, along with five other Crimean Tatars, was taken to Simferopol, where a Russian-controlled court placed him under arrest in a pre-trial detention centre.

Sentence: On April 30, 2025, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Ekrem Krosh to 17 years in prison on fabricated charges in the case of the 'second Dzhankoy group' related to the organization 'Hizb ut-Tahrir'.

Ekrem Krosh had lived in Crimea with his family since 1988. He grew up in Dzhankoy and never left. He is a representative of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, who have faced severe pressure from Russian repressive bodies since the occupation of the peninsula in 2014. In civilian life, he was known among his fellow villagers as a diligent appliance repair technician.

The wave of repression reached Ekrem in early 2023. On the morning of January 24, operatives and investigators from the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, supported by armed OMON, conducted a series of synchronized searches in the homes of Crimean Tatars in the villages of the Dzhankoy district. Armed forces broke into Ekrem Krosh's home. The search involved psychological pressure, intimidation of his family, and complete disregard for basic human rights.

That day, the invaders detained six men. Besides Ekrem Krosh, builders Osman Abdurazakova and Leman Zekeryaev, entrepreneurs Khalil Mambetov and Refat Seydametov, and repair specialist Ayder Asanov were also captured by the FSB. All were immediately taken to temporarily occupied Simferopol. This group of political prisoners was later referred to by human rights defenders and media as the 'second Dzhankoy group' in the so-called 'Hizb ut-Tahrir' case. The next day, a Russian-controlled occupation court imposed pre-trial detention, sending them to Pre-trial Detention Centre No. 1.

The Russian investigation was marked by gross violations of international humanitarian law and the use of physical violence. A few months after his detention, Ekrem Krosh was forcibly transferred from Pre-trial Detention Centre No. 1 to the newly built Pre-trial Detention Centre No. 2, which had a more severe isolation regime for prisoners.

During court hearings, Ekrem Krosh, along with another defendant, Leman Zekeryaev, openly reported being tortured by Russian guards in Simferopol's Pre-trial Detention Centre No. 2. Ekrem detailed being beaten with hands and feet, tortured with an electric shocker, forced to sit for hours in a bent position with his hands raised above his head, and subjected to constant insults and humiliation.

After the unlawful investigation on the peninsula concluded, he was transferred across the Kerch Strait to the Russian Federation in Rostov-on-Don. In the summer of 2024, lawyer Oleksiy Ladin recorded during a court session the fact of another unwarranted beating of Ekrem in the Rostov pre-trial detention centre. The defense suggested that the aggression of the prison guards flared up amid internal unrest and searches in the facility in June 2024, with Krosh being the only one affected from the group. The Russian court completely ignored these statements.

In his final court statement, Ekrem Krosh firmly declared his complete innocence. He called the criminal case against himself and his friends a 'shameful falsification' and fabrication from start to finish. He emphasized that the occupiers accuse Crimean Tatars of serious crimes merely for attending mosques, praying, repairing religious buildings, and discussing Islamic norms, which are basic rights to freedom of religion. He demanded immediate acquittal for himself and the entire group.

Despite the clear absence of a crime, the Russian state prosecutor requested 17 years of imprisonment for Ekrem.

Information used from open sources: Suspilne Crimea, Ukrinform, ZMINA, Detector Media.

Photo: Suspilne Crimea.

Date updated: 12.07.2026.