Trial of Ukrainian sailors in Russia to start no earlier than in a year – lawyer
"The trial, if any, will start no earlier than in a year. The earliest option is in six months, but it is unrealistic. Therefore, it's very important to prevent trial," lawyer Ilya Novikov said on the air of the Priamyi Ukrainian TV channel.
According to him, such trials have the verdicts prepared in advance and are held just for show.
“On the whole, these hearings should not be viewed as the trial of the sailors,” Novikov noted.
On November 25, 2018, Russian border ships fired on and seized in the Kerch Strait three Ukrainian vessels that were moving from the port of Odesa to the port of Mariupol. Twenty-four Ukrainian sailors were captured.
Russian-controlled "courts" in occupied Crimea arrested all sailors for two months, and they were taken to Moscow.
At present, 21 Ukrainian servicemen are in Moscow's Lefortovo remand prison, while three more wounded sailors are held in the Matrosskaya Tishina remand prison.
The coordinator of the team of lawyers, Nikolai Polozov, said that all Ukrainian sailors captured by Russia told investigators that they were the prisoners of war.
On January 7, Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia with the European Court of Human Rights over the violation of the rights of detained Ukrainian sailors.
