Zelensky's Representative Office in Crimea demands to stop persecution of lawyer Kurbedinov in Crimea

This was reported on Facebook by the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the ARC, Ukrinform reports.

The agency emphasized that the pressure and persecution of independent lawyers who defend Ukrainian citizens by the occupation administrations of Crimea have been going on for several years, but have significantly intensified with the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

"Detentions and illegal arrests, attacks on the law office of Emil Kurbedinov, warnings about the inadmissibility of allegedly uncoordinated actions, regular obstruction of access to clients, discrediting campaigns against independent lawyers in the occupation media and other forms of pressure. The Mission once again condemns the illegal detention of Kurbedinov and demands an immediate cessation of the persecution of the lawyer and any form of obstruction of his professional activities," the statement reads.

The Representative Office calls on the international community and the global legal community to respond and condemn the systematic persecution of independent lawyers, violation of standards and guarantees of the legal profession in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

It is emphasized that defense lawyers are one of the few last channels of communication and protection of political prisoners illegally detained by the Russian Federation in the occupation.

As Ukrinform reported, Emil Kurbedinov was detained in Simferopol near the FSB building. An administrative protocol was drawn up against him under Article 13.15 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (part 9) "Abuse of freedom of mass information" and he was released.

The protocol states that Kurbedinov was detained for a message in his Telegram channel "Kemska Volost". Kurbedinov called his detention an attempt by Russian special services to put pressure on lawyers in Crimea.

Photo: Crimean Solidarity