The head of the Crimean Human Rights Group (CHRG) Olga Skrypnyk, in her speech at a press conference in Kyiv said that Emil is a political prisoner.
“Talking about Emil Kurbedinov and his colleagues – they were not just documenting, they were not just lawyers, they tried to do everything to attract widespread attention. Remind that Emil Kurbedinov was paying a lot of time to talk about these violations. He was going out of Crimea; he was visiting Kyiv, knowing about the risks to his life and his freedom, but he talked about what was happening. He told me about his activities, and about many of his colleagues from Russia, which protect our citizens and doing the same. Now they are all at risk.
This case is not only against Emil Kurbedinov, this case is against all independent professional lawyers who, in spite of the risk are trying to protect our citizens. That is why we believe that this case – the case of Emil Kurbedinov and his release is our business, as well as the business of the international community and international organizations. Because we do not know what could be worse: we have more than forty political prisoners, but now they cannot have advocates. How to continue to defend these people and what to do?
That is why we appeal to our reporters who cover the Crimean issue, we turn to the national television channels, asking constantly draw attention to the case. As human rights defenders on 26 January, 2017 we addressed to the international organizations, appealed to the State of Ukraine to condemn these acts and to be active in order to protect Emil Kurbedinov and other lawyers in Crimea. Also the statements supporting defence of Emil Kurbedinov were published by many well-known Ukrainian and international human rights organizations. We believe that these actions will give a result because unfortunately is practically impossible to deal with Russia by legal measures. We see that every day it shows disregard for international human rights standards and do not even respect their own legislation. All these violations give reason to say that Emil Kurbedinov, which is now deprived of his liberty, is also a political prisoner. Unfortunately, he increased this terrible list of Ukrainian political prisoners who are in prison because of the illegal actions of the Russian Federation. We invite everyone to join the action of solidarity in defence of Emil Kurbedinov and give a support by all available means “, – said Olga Skrypnyk.
Ministry of Information Policy is the organizer of the press conference: “The new round of repression in the occupied Crimea, and the measures taken by the human rights community and the state to protect the Crimean lawyers who themselves have become victims of persecution by the occupation authorities”.
Participants: Julia Kazdobina – Advisor to the Minister of information policy;
Marian Betsa – Speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine;
Bogdan Kriklivenko – Head of the Secretariat of the Commissioner of the Parliament of Ukraine on Human Rights;
Olga Skrypnyk – head of the Crimean Human Rights Group;
Daria Sviridova – lawyer of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union
