Russian lawyers not allowed to visit Panov in Lefortovo remand prison

Olga Dinze and Dmitry Dinze, the lawyers of detained in the occupied Crimea Yevhen Panov, were not allowed to visit their client in the Lefortovo remand prison in Moscow.

This is reported by the Crimean Human Rights Group.

According to Dmitry Dinze, they tried to meet with Panov during the investigation activities on November 1.

“First, the lawyers were made to wait near the Lefortovo remand prison for two and a half hours. Then, FSB investigator Seliverstov asked them to come to the Investigation Department of the Russian Security Service. There investigator allowed Panov to meet only with a lawyer from Simferopol,” the statement reads.

The investigator explained his actions, saying he was given the order to let only one certain person to the investigative office.

“The FSB investigator informed the lawyer from Simferopol about the instruction on appointment of examinations and about findings on a number of examinations. In particular, he informed the lawyer about the results of fingerprinting, genetic, ballistic, biological examinations,” Dinze said.

In addition, the FSB investigator refused to accept petitions from lawyers, saying they did not complied with the necessary “rules of procedure.”

However, the lawyers will try to file those petitions in the coming days in another way.

Moscow lawyers previously filed applications to the Lefortovo remand prison with a request for admission to the defendant. However, the Russian investigative authorities continue to create obstacles for defenders of Panov.

The Crimean Human Rights Group experts believe that investigators violate the fundamental right to defense, which is enshrined in Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides for the right of everyone to a fair trial.

As reported, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced in August that Yevhen Panov and Andriy Zakhtey were accused of alleged plotting terrorist acts in the occupied Crimea.

According to human rights activists, Panov had been tortured for several days and then incriminated himself. The special services recorded the video with his testimony.

Crimean Human Rights Group coordinator Olha Skrypnyk stated that such methods of torture had been used against Gennady Afanasyev, Oleg Sentsov, Andriy Kolomiets, and Oleksandr Kostenko.

August 15, it was reported that the number of detainees in “the case of plotting acts of sabotage” in the Russian-occupied Crimea had increased up to nine people.

According to the Ukrainian human rights activists, at least 29 Ukrainians, including 15 Crimean Tatars, still stay behind bars in Russia after Nadiya Savchenko, Hennadiy Afanasyev, and Yuri Soloshenko were released.