In February 2016, he was arrested and charged by Russian authorities on the accusation that he was a member of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, although Kuku denies any involvement in this organization.
[1] In December 2017 Kuku and five his co-defendants, Muslim Aliyev, Vadim Siruk, Enver Bekirov, Refat Alimov and Arsen Dzhepparov were moved to Rostov-on-Don.
[6] On June 26 2018, on his birthday, Emir-Usein Kuku began an indefinite hunger strike, during which he lost nine kilograms and declared an ultimatum to Russian President Vladimir Putin: I, Kuku Emir-Usein Kemalovich, 26.06.1976 year of birth, citizen of Ukraine, Crimean Tatar, Muslim, will declare a hunger strike (refusal to eat) from 06:00 26.06.2018 until the issue of release of political prisoners in Russian prisons, correctional colonies, numbering 70 people.
[10] According to the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group the only evidence that the prosecution has provided is a "pseudo assessment of a recorded conversation “in the kitchen” where the men were discussing the situation in Russia, Ukraine, the fate of Crimea, the place of Islam in both countries and various religious postulates.
"[11] In November 2018 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which called for the urgent release of Ukrainian citizens Oleg Sentsov, Volodymyr Balukh and Emir-Usein Kuku.
[14] On February 11 2021, the Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid of Germany Bärbel Kofler demanded Kuku's release and called the case symptomatic of the persecution of Crimean Tatars in the illegally occupied Crimea.