Russia does not allow lawyers to visit imprisoned Ukrainian sailors Monday, May 20, 2019 12:00:56 PM

On Sunday, lawyer Nikolai Polozov announced that the administration of Lefortovo detention center is preventing lawyers’ access to Ukrainian sailors.

“The administration of the Lefortovo prison created a situation in which lawyers’ access for confidential communication and work with clients became extremely difficult. The conditions that the Ukrainian sailors, being the prisoners of war, are in are in violation of Article 105 of the Third Geneva Convention,” wrote Polozov on this Twitter account.

Polozov published lawyer Anastasia Georgievskaya’s twitter post, who on Friday was unable to access her client, the Ukrainian sailor, Vladimir Tereshchenko because on that day only investigators were allowed into the detention center.

“This is not only a violation of the “lawyers rights” (the Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation) but also a flagrant violation of the right for defense,” noted Georgievskaya.

“Considering the fact that letters from my client Vladimir Tereshchenko do not even reach me and Lefortovo pre-trial detention center and the investigation do not see any violations here, surprising, yes? Telephone calls to him are forbidden, appointments too. I think that we are already 3 weeks is in a state of incommunicado, "wrote the lawyer.

On 25 November last year, Russia attacked and captured the Ukrainian military boats Berdyansk and Nikopol and the tugboat Yany Kapu in neutral waters. All 24 Ukrainians on board were accused of violating the Russian state border, arrested, and transferred from Kerch to Moscow. Ukraine considered this an act of military aggression, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognized the captured sailors as prisoners of war.

US President Donald Trump canceled his planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin because of the Kerch Strait incident. US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker similarly called off his scheduled negotiation session with Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov.

Oleksandr Turchynov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said in December that Ukraine had invited its international partners to take part in a passage of naval ships from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait. The Russian media warned that this could “aggravate the situation”.

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