Defense witnesses insist in court on Chiygoz’s noninvolvement into unlawful actions (VIDEO)

On Thursday, May 11, there passed the 112th court hearing in Simferopol on the case of deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Akhtem Chiygoz. In the morning the defense witnesses were questioned who declared about Chiygoz’s noninvolvement into the unlawful actions.

The lawyer Nikolay Polozov told about that.

«Two defense witnesses were questioned. The first witness told that he had seen an announcement about a mass rally on ATR TV channel the day before. Next morning, February 26, he arrived at the building of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Both the pro-Ukrainian and the pro-Russian protesters had already gathered there. He saw Akhtem Chigoz among the participants, but did not see his commitment of any illegal actions. He told that the pro-Russian protesters behaved themselves aggressively enough. On their part a pressure began on the pro-Ukrainian protesters group. During the crush the pro-Ukrainian protesters tried to arrange the corridors for victims to leave. None of participants was going to commit unlawful actions. He did not see any fights and the protesters did not attempt to enter the building, though their amount was significantly more than the police officers. At a certain point, the police just went away and no one was already responsible for the public order. All that continued till midday. Afterwards, Refat Chubarov and Sergey Aksenov announced that the rally finished and the witness left it», the lawyer said.

«The second witness also heard Refat Chubarov’s appeal on ATR TV channel the day before. He came together with his elderly father to Simferopol to the building of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea on February 26. There he saw that not only the pro-Ukrainian protesters but the pro-Russian ones as well. This naturally aroused his astonishment. It has never happened that participants of two different rallies gathered in one place. The policemen were not very much. They separated the protesters in the courtyard on the right and left sides from the entrance. The witness's father was also there. He was sat on one young man’s shoulders. Earlier, prosecution witnesses told us that they saw an elderly Crimean Tatar who was sitting on someone’s shoulders. Some people said that it was Mustafa Dzhemilev, but today we managed to find out that it was wrong. Unfortunately, this man had died and we can’t call him to the hearing to testify. His son said that nevertheless its numerous superiority the pro-Ukrainian protesters did not attempt to enter the building and to disorganize the deputies’ work. All the protesters’ demands were expressed exactly through the peaceful and non-violent means. And it was not only on February 26, but also at all events of the Crimean Tatars. He also said that he had seen how Akhtem Chiygoz appealed to the protesters and tried to organize the corridors. The other participants repeated the same gestures made by Chiygoz. Witness called them calming down and non-provocative. He also hadn’t heard anyone shouting out the words «Beat them», «Go away» or «Squeeze them». In the middle of the day, at about 1 p.m., he saw that a large column out of several hundred people joined the pro-Russian protesters. They walked in an orderly manner putting their hands on the shoulders of foregoing people. Afterwards the crush had begun. Moreover, the pro-Russian protesters started it. They first began throwing plastic bottles then squeezing their opponents. There were observed swinging actions further. It continued for a while when Chubarov and Aksenov did not make a statement that the session would not take place. When the witness was leaving the rally, he saw someone starting up fire on the right side in the courtyard. However, standing there the police colonel reacted to it none. Later on the witness left the event», Polozov concluded.

{add_video_1}