A press conference on human rights violations in Crimea was held in Moscow

On March 3, 2017, a press conference was held at the Sakharov Center "Crimea: the human rights situation on the peninsula. How to protect those who protects."

took part in the press conference Crimean lawyers Emil Kurbedinov and Edem Semedlyaev , coordinator of the Alexander Field Human Rights Center Krylenkova , Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists Karinna Moskalenko and lawyer of the Ukrainian National Bar Association Russian Ilya Novikov .

Emil Kurbedinov, a lawyer for Akhtem Chiygoz , Ilmi Umerov and others, spoke about how peninsula is under serious pressure on activists who oppose policy of the Russian authorities: "If a person is secular, he will be to prosecute for separatism, and if he is a Muslim, to accuse him of terrorism."

Recall that after the annexation of Crimea to Russia, local law enforcement authorities initiated a number of criminal cases against Crimeans under Art. 280.1 of the Criminal Code on calls for violation territorial integrity of the Russian Federation (this article, from our point of view, violates the right to freedom of speech) for criticizing the accession. In addition, Muslims peninsula faced prosecution for involvement in religious-political party "Hizb ut-Tahrir", which in the Russian Federation recognized as terrorist (we believe, unlawfully), and in Ukraine not prohibited. According to Kurbedinov, numerous violations of the rights and freedoms inhabitants of the peninsula occur, in particular, due to the fact that the Russian anti-extremist legislation does not comply with international norms.

, agrees with him. Edem Semedlyaev, the lawyer of the persecuted in the case February 26 . He notes that many of his colleagues at first feared take cases under "extremist" articles, considering these cases too politicized. When did the professional community start working with them? and draw attention to the facts of violation of rights, a new line was crossed: those who protect from persecution began to persecute. As an example, Semedlyaev recalled that the lawyer Nikolai Polozov, who defended Umerov and Chiygoz, was summoned for interrogation by the FSB on January 25, 2017, and Emil Kurbedinov January 2017 served 10 days of administrative arrest for reposting photos and videos from a Hizb ut-Tahrir rally made in 2013 year, when the activities of the organization were not prohibited on the territory of Crimea as part of Ukraine.

Karinna Moskalenko continued the topic of violations of the status of a lawyer immunity. She drew particular attention to the problem of searches in law firms that violate the principle of professional secrecy. Such searches took place in the Central Bar Association of Simferopol - in the office Kurbedinov and Semedlyaev. She emphasized that the position of the ECtHR on this issue remains unchanged: such practices are unacceptable.

Ilya Novikov said that often pressure on lawyers turns out to be in order to remove the status of a defender from them and put them into action in as a witness. It is for this purpose that lawyers are often called in for questioning. cases in which they are involved.

Alexandra Krylenkova confirmed the facts of pressure on lawyers, human rights activists and activists of the peninsula. She also added that anti-extremist persecution articles fits into a broader picture of gross violation of the rights of local residents and recalled the difficulties with checkpoints at the border and mass expulsion of Crimean residents, who did not receive Russian citizenship.

Sources

• Inc. inf.