Crimea: Defense Lawyers Harassed
(Kyiv) – Russian authorities have detained two human rights lawyers who represent prominent Crimean Tatar leaders, Human Rights Watch said today. The lawyers’ clients are being prosecuted on politically motivated charges in retaliation for their activism.
Emil Kurbedinov, who was detained on January 26, 2017, and Nikolai Polozov, detained on January 25, represent Akhtem Chiygoz and Ilmi Umerov, prosecuted on bogus charges related to their vocal and public opposition of Russia’s occupation of Crimea. Chiygoz and Umerov are deputy chairmen of the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatar representative body. Crimean Tatars are a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority in Crimea, many of whom …read more
Source: Human Rights Watch
