A Russian court has refused to revoke a formal court complaint that could lead to renowned human rights lawyer Lilya Hemedzhi being stripped of her license to practice. The Military Court of Appeal in the Moscow Region rejected the defense’s application to see the extract from the court decision which supposedly proved Hemedzhi’s ‘guilt’, while the transcript of the court hearing has still not been prepared, making it effectively impossible to demonstrate what had actually happened. The rejection of Hemedzhi’s appeal on October 28 was largely anticipated, but cannot be tolerated and Hemedzhi and her colleague, Edem Semedlyaev, plan to take her case to the European Court of Human Rights. Such a formal complaint aimed at getting disciplinary measures brought against a lawyer is, after all, not just an attack on Hemedzhi herself, but an attempt to silence all lawyers who properly defend their clients in political trials.
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Halya Coynash: Dangerous offensive against lawyer defending Crimean Tatar political prisoners
People hold a flag during the day of Crimean Tatar National Flag in Kyiv on June 26, 2020.
