On March 3, the Yalta City Court decided to place Yunus Masharipov, accused of illegal manufacture and storage of explosives, in a psychiatric hospital for in-patient treatment with intensive surveillance.
This was commented by a lawyer. “The court decree refers to the use of compulsory medical measures against my client. The court decided to place Yunus Masharipov in a psychiatric hospital in a hospital and under intensive surveillance, ”said the lawyer. According to the lawyer, the defence does not agree with this decision and intends to appeal it. “We will appeal. Until the appellate court makes a final decision, Yunus Masharipov will be in jail” the lawyer added.
As the lawyer said in court that Masharipov did not commit an alleged crime. This is indicated by several circumstances established during the judicial investigation. In particular, the protocol of the inspection of the area and the behaviour of employees who did not take any security measures when explosive devices were detected. Moreover, the FSB officers had every opportunity to put those items where they were found. This is also indicated by the forcible seizure of biological samples of the defendant, which were later found on explosive devices. However, such actions without the presence of a lawyer significantly violated the defendant’s right to defence.
Also, the lawyer drew the attention of the court that during the judicial investigation, the contradictions between the two psychological and psychiatric examinations were not resolved, since the judge refused to interrogate the expert. In conclusion, he called on the court to acquit Masharipov, or if mental health problems were found, to determine his treatment on an outpatient basis without imprisonment. After that, Masharipov said that he was a citizen of Ukraine and demanded that he be deported to a Ukrainian medical institution for treatment.
During the debate, Masharipov reminded the court of the norms of the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular article 3, which deals with torture. He also stressed that the tortures carried out by the FSB employees consider as the manifestation of fascism.
Recall that according to the prosecution, Yunus Masharipov supposedly made two improvised explosive devices and transported them to a site on the Sevastopol highway 50 meters from the Church of St. Archangel Michael of the Russian Orthodox Church, located in the village of Oreanda in Yalta. With their help, he supposedly planned to set the forest on fire in Yalta in order to destabilize the socio-political situation in the region. In addition, Masharipov supposedly illegally acquired black powder and stored it in a garage. He was detained on September 27, 2017.
Yunus Masharipov claims that after the detention the FSB officers used violence
against him – he sent a statement describing the torture to Viktor Palagin, the
head of the FSB in Crimea, as well as to “the people, authorities, deputies of
Ukraine, the media, and human rights organizations,” which was announced on
December 1, 2017 year reported a number of publications. In this letter,
Masharipov calls himself a human rights activist and insists that since 2014 he
has been reporting to the human rights organizations “about violations of the
rights of children, disabled people, pensioners” in the Crimea, collecting
information about victims of security forces, and now “he experienced the
horror of the savage methods of torture by FSB officers with a manifestation of
sadism.”
