Court turned lawyer Polozov to witness

The Russian lawyer Nikolay Polozov was deprived of his right to defend the deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Ilmi Umerov, and turned his defender’s status to a witness’s one.

The lawyer commented on it to «QirimInfo».

Polozov intends to appeal this decision to the European Court of Human Rights.

«I'm waiting for getting the Appeal Court’s decision ext copy from Kiev district court then it will be possible to file a cassation and appeal to the European Court. Moreover, I have filed a complaint about the investigator’s actions and it has not yet been examined», the lawyer said.

According to him, the investigation of Umerov’s case has already been completed and it will be sent to the prosecutor's office in the coming days.

«Considering all the circumstances, I suppose there will be either a suspended sentence or a fine. If it is suspended sentence it is more convenient for them. Thus he has to come every month and be under control», Polozov told.

To remind some facts, on January 25, Nikolay Polozov was illegally detained in Crimea by the FSS officers. The FSS tried to interrogate the lawyer as a witness in Umerov’s case and to deprive him of defender’s status. Polozov refused to bear any witness.

On February 14, the so-called Supreme Court of Crimea rejected the lawyer’s appeal against the Kyiv District Court’s decision to allow the FSS investigator, Igor Skripka, to interrogate him as a witness in Umerov’s case.