As soon as we issued a statement condemning the politically motivated persecution of independent lawyers Nazim Sheikhmambetov, Edem Semedlyayev, Ayder Azamatov and Emine Avamileva, the occupation court of Simferopol illegally arrested the detainees Ayder Azamatov for 8 days, Emine Avamileva – for 5 days, and Nazim Sheikhmambetov – for 8 days.

The illegally imprisoned lawyers are known for defending Ukrainian sailors and representing the interests of persons persecuted in the occupied Crimea for political reasons, primarily representatives of the Crimean Tatar people. In particular, Ayder Azamatov and Emine Avamileva were detained after they defended lawyer Nazim Sheikhmambetov.

This unprecedented campaign of arrests of lawyers is an echo of the full-scale invasion of Crimea by the Russian Federation. It is also a continuation of the targeted persecution of independent lawyers in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol in order to intimidate, obstruct their professional activities and prevent their participation in the defense of illegally persecuted citizens.

We demand from the Russian Federation to immediately release from detention lawyers Ayder Azamatov, Emine Avamileva and Nazim Sheikhmambetov. To stop the wave of repressions against the independent legal community for their professional and public activities.

We call on the international community and the legal profession to respond to the systematic persecution, illegal detention and direct pressure on independent lawyers in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

We call on journalists to cover the situation with systematic persecution, illegal imprisonment and direct pressure on independent lawyers in the temporarily occupied Crimea as widely as possible, as defense lawyers are one of the few channels of communication between the Kremlin’s political prisoners and the outside world. We cannot allow the occupiers to force them out of Crimea as well.

The only way to stop the lawlessness is to de-occupy the temporarily occupied Crimea, until then we must make every effort to fight for each of our citizens, for everyone who helps them, for everyone who lives by the values of human rights, freedom and democracy, like the rest of Ukraine!

Every day Ukraine is fighting against the Russian occupiers who are killing civilians, torturing people, destroying civilian infrastructure, stealing property, and disregarding all the rules of the democratic world and international treaties. For eight years in the occupied Crimea, people have been kidnapped, activists have been detained, their families have been pressured, property has been taken away and hostile propaganda has been spread – this cannot go on for another year, month or day. The world has already seen the true totalitarian face of the Russian Federation. It is time to stop the terror and return the world’s right to a decent future.

Emine Avamileva is an Honored Lawyer of Ukraine. One of the most important features of a democratic society is the right to defense and independent professional defenders, lawyers. Having destroyed the judicial system in the occupied Crimea, Russia is now eliminating the last hope for defense for Ukrainian citizens living under occupation – independent lawyers.