Preliminary trial of Umerov: judges rejected all motions

A preliminary court hearing was held today in the “Simferopol District Court” on the criminal case against Ilmi Umerov, Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis.

As reported by reporter of the Human Rights Information Centre, a number of motions were announced at the hearing, but almost all of them were rejected by the court.

Thus, a motion was submitted to postpone the court hearing due to the absence of two lawyers. However, the court found the presence of one defender sufficient.

After that, a motion was filed to exclude the protocol of the lawyer Mykola Polozov’s, who was kidnapped from the hotel in January and taken to the FSB, interrogation from the criminal case. This motion also remained without satisfaction.

In addition, the “court” rejected the motion to dismiss the criminal case on the grounds that Russian identity of Crimea is not recognized by most countries in the world, and statement about this is not a crime.

Additionally, the “judge” postponed the consideration of Ilmi Umerov’s request to include activist Alexander Podrabinek in the case as a public defender. This issue will be considered only in the presence of Podrabinek himself.

The first court hearing on the merits is scheduled for June 7. Oleg Sarginov, who performs a similar role in the criminal case against Crimean journalist Mykola Semena, will represent the prosecution in this case. The occupation authorities accuse Mykola Semena of public calls for the violation of the territorial integrity for his position on the statehood of Crimea.

As a reminder, in April 2016, Russian authorities banned the activities of the Mejlis as an “extremist organization” on the peninsula.

A month later, the Russian FSB accused Ilmi Umerov of threatening Russia’s territorial integrity through a television interview. In which, the Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis said that Crimea is not Russia and that Ukraine should return the occupied territory.

On August 11, 2016, Ilmi Umerov suddenly felt faint during court hearing, where the court of the occupied Crimea considered the question of appointing him a psychiatric examination. Doctors hospitalized him with a suspicion of a heart attack. After that, Russian-controlled Kyiv District Court of Simferopol made a decision on the necessity for Umerov to undergo a stationary forensic psychiatric examination. He was transported to a psychiatric hospital on August 18.

On September 7, 2016, Ilmi Umerov was released from the hospital.

On December 30, 2016, it became known that the Russian occupation authorities included Ilmi Umerov in the list of “extremists” and blocked his financial operations in the Crimea.

On March 21, an indictment on the criminal case was served to Ilmi Umerov, Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, in the Kremlin-controlled Prosecutor’s Office of Crimea.