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FSB releases attorney detained in Crimea for interrogation over extremism case

MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. Attorney Nikolai Polozov, who was detained in Crimea for a compulsory interrogation over the Umerov case, has been released. Ilmi Umerov, a member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (outlawed in Russia), is charged with extremism.

"The FSB [Federal Security Service] has released me. I haven’t given them any information concerning attorney-client privilege," Polozov told TASS. He added that he had refused to testify so he had been "threatened that a criminal case would be initiated."

According to investigators, in March 2016, during his stay in Ukraine, Umerov called for violations of Russia’s territorial integrity in an interview broadcast live by Ukraine’s ATP TV channel. Later his speech was posted on the internet which prompted the Russian prosecutor’s office to open a criminal case against him.

Umerov previously held the posts of Crimea’s Bakhchisaray district administration head, Crimea’s Supreme Council vice-chairman and deputy head of the Crimean Mejlis.