Occupants illegally detained lawyer Emil Kurbedinov in Crimea

In occupied Simferopol, representatives of the so-called center for countering extremism illegally detained lawyer Emil Kurbedinov near the building of the occupation law enforcement agencies. He was taken to the occupation police department in Simferopol. There, an illegal report was drawn up against him for allegedly “disseminating false information under the guise of reliable information”. The illegal “article” under which the occupiers drew up the so-called “protocol” does not provide for administrative arrest, so Emil Kurbedinov was released. Later, he will be summoned to the occupation “court”, where the case materials will be transferred. This will be the third administrative case against the lawyer.

Kurbedinov is a human rights lawyer who defends Ukrainian citizens in the occupied Crimea, in particular representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, who are persecuted by the occupiers in politically motivated cases. The lawyer is also actively working to draw attention to the gross violation of human rights in the occupied Crimean peninsula.

The pressure and persecution of independent lawyers defending Ukrainian citizens by the occupation administrations of Crimea has been going on for years, but has significantly intensified since 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.