(also see our story above on the Pysaruk case)
Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone according to Ukrainian Defense Ministry. (CLICK TO ENLARGE.)
A news item from Current Time TV and the Crimea Desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
Six Crimeans Get Lengthy Prison Terms On Extremism Charges
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia -- A military court in Russia’s southern city of Rostov-on-Don has handed lengthy prison terms to six men from Crimea, five of whom are Crimean Tatars, for being members of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group.
The court on November 12 sentenced Muslim Aliyev to 19 years, Enver Bekirov to 18 years, Vadym Syruk and a prominent human rights defender Emir-Useyn Kuku to 12 years, Refat Alimov to 8 years, and Arsen Dzhepparov to 7 years in prison.
The men, who were arrested in February 2016, were found guilty of "organizing and taking part in the activities of a terrorist group and plotting an armed power seizure."
All six said they were not guilty and Ayder Azamatov, a lawyer for one of the defendants, told RFE/RL that the sentences will be appealed.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in Russia as a terrorist organization but operates legally in Ukraine.
However, Moscow imposed its own laws on the Crimean Peninsula after it annexed the territory in 2014.
Since Russia seized the peninsula, its authorities have prosecuted dozens of Crimean Tatars for allegedly belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Rights groups and Western governments have denounced what they describe as a campaign of repression by the Russian-imposed authorities in Crimea who are targeting members of the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar community and others who have spoken out against Moscow's takeover of the peninsula.
Russia took control of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 after sending in troops, seizing key facilities, and staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries.
Moscow also backs separatists in a war against government forces that has killed some 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.