You're reading: Lawyers file appeal against Russian sentence to son of Ukrainian parliamentarian Dzhemilev

KRASNODAR - The defense lawyers for Khaiser Dzhemilev, the son of a Ukrainian parliamentarian, who was sentenced by the Krasnodar territorial court to five years in a penal colony for manslaughter and stealing and storage of weapons, filed an appeal on June 19, Nikolai Polozov, a lawyer for Dzhemilev, told Interfax.

“Not doubting the verdict handed out by the jury, the defense lawyers believe they should file an appeal demanding a reversal of the sentenced handed out by the Krasnodar territorial court and stop the criminal case against Dzhemilev,” the lawyer said.

The lawyer said the defense lawyers’ position is that Dzhemilev has already been convicted for similar crimes by the Kyiv Dneprovsky Court and the sentence has already taken legal force, adding that Ukraine s now seeking his extradition to serve his term in Ukraine.

“In accordance with the norms of international law recognized by Russia, a person cannot be convicted for one and the same crime twice. It also needs to be said that Russia is to give an official response to Ukraine’s inquiry on Khaiser Dzhemilev’s extraction on June 21,” Polozov said.

The lawyer believes another rounds for a reversal of the sentence is a major violation of the provisions of the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure in the transfer of the criminal case from the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office to the Russian Investigative Committee. In March 2013, the Simferopol court returned the criminal case to the Ukrainian prosecutors for an additional investigation, but the materials were obtained by the Russian Investigative Committee in April.

On June 10, the Krasnodar territorial court found Dzhemilev guilty of “stealing and storing weapons” and “manslaughter” and sentenced him to five years in a general-regime peal colony.