Only one person from more than 200 interrogated testified against Chiygoz in the court – Polozov

Out of more than 200 people interrogated in the trial of Akhtem Chiygoz, Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, only one testified against the defendant.

As reported by Nikolai Polozov, Russian lawyer and defender of Akhtem Chiygoz, during the “Face 2 face” program with Tetyana Danylenko on the ZIK TV channel.

According to him, such testimony was caused by the hatred of a witness towards the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars. All the rest, even members of the “people’s militia”, has not testified against Akhtem Chiygoz.

Nikolai Polozov reminded that the trial of Akhtem Chiygoz lasts for a year already and noted that a huge amount of work has been done during this time.

“During this time, about 200 people were questioned in the Chiygoz case: victims, witnesses. Moreover, we managed to attract a number of collaborators – Tsekov, Kovitidi, Aksyonov. And in the coming days we will also interrogate Konstantinov, who was one of the main participants of these events”, – said Polozov.

The lawyer added that earlier such persons as Natalia Poklonskaya, former prosecutor of the annexed Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, Kremlin-controlled Head of Crimea, and Vladimir Konstantinov, Speaker of the Crimean Parliament were very interested in Akhtem Chiygoz’s case. However, now, as noted by Polozov, the whole problem lies directly in the Kremlin.

“The case of Akhtem Chiygoz is important for several reasons. Firstly, he is deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People. In addition, Chiygoz is the only one of the Mejlis who is kept in the pre-trial detention centre. I remind thatAkhtem Chiygoz is in jail for 2.5 years. Moreover, he was never taken out of it over the past year. And this is the first trial in Russia, where the defendant is not present in the courtroom. In particular, a videoconferencing was organized for Chiygoz, therefore he is not present during the court hearing in person and this complicates the whole process”, – noted Chiygoz’s lawyer.

As a reminder, on July 5, the Court of Appeal in Simferopol rejected a complaint of Akhtem Chiygoz’s defense on extension of his arrest. Thus, Chiygoz will remain in custody until October 8.

Akhtem Chiygoz was detained in January 2015 for participating in a rally in support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine in front of the Crimean parliament on February 26, 2014. Then protestors opposed the pro-Russian activists, including those from the Russian Unity. Russian authorities of the annexed Crimea accuse Chiygoz of organizing mass riots.

Russian court is considering “Chiygoz case” as part of “February 26 case”, which on July 20, during a closed court hearing was divided into two different cases: a separate case on Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis Akhtem Chiygoz and separate case of other defendants – Ali Asanov and Mustafa Degermendzhi.