In the trial of Chiygoz the so-called senators of Crimea gave conflicting testimonies

Today in the Supreme Court of Crimea during the court hearing on the criminal case against Deputy Head of Mejlis Akhtem Chiygoz, the so-called senators from Crimea in the Russian Federation Council Sergei Tsekov and Olga Kovitidi were questioned.

As reported by reporter of the Human Rights Information Centre from Crimea.

Sergei Tsekov explained to the court that the decision to hold an extraordinary session was made on morning of February 26, arguing that this did not contradict the rules. He also said that it was planned to consider the resignation of the government at the session, and the question of seeking help from Russia, was not to be put to the vote, though Tsekov insisted on voting.

In addition, Tsekov said that Refat Chubarov threatened MPs that the protesters would take over the building if they would begin the session. Then, according to Tsekov, he saw 15 Crimean Tatars on the second floor of the building and indicated that about another hundred were on the first floor. These testimonies contradict the information received earlier from witnesses from among police officers who have guarded the parliament hall and employees of the Verkhovna Rada apparatus.

In addition, Tsekov claimed at the trial that deputy Aksyonov registered on that day to participate in the session, while Aksyonov himself during the interrogation in this case claimed that he had not registered and hinted that it lacked only his voice to start the session.

In turn, Olga Kovitidi said that she saw Akhtem Chiygoz at the Crimean Parliament on February 26. He was shouting something in a megaphone in the Tatar language and immediately after that there was a crush. However, these statements do not correspond to the video records studied earlier, which show that Chiygoz has not performed the specified actions.

In addition, Kovitidi gave conflicting testimony about the clothes of the defendant, and described the flags of the Mejlis as “green and with a trident”.

She also said that Sergey Aksyonov took over the functions of the police, after she stopped differentiating the two rallies.

In addition, Kovitidi made it clear that she herself was involved in organizing the transport of Sevastopol residents, the forthcoming of which, in the opinion of representatives of the defense, provoked mass riots.

Also, the people attending the trial were impressed by Olga Kivitidi’s response about the density of people gathered that day at the Crimean Parliament. After a moment’s hesitation, she replied: “This is when three people enter one. Yes! It was this dense!”.

As a reminder, Ahtem Chiygoz was detained in January 2015 for participating in a rally in support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine in front of the Crimean parliament on February 26, 2014. Then protestors opposed the pro-Russian activists, including those from the Russian Unity.

Russian court is considering “Chiygoz case” as part of “February 26 case”, which on July 20, during a closed court hearing was divided into two different cases: a separate case on Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis Akhtem Chiygoz and separate case of other defendants – Ali Asanov and Mustafa Degermendzhi.

On February 24, International Expert Panel stated that Russia has no right to investigate the events, which happened in front of the Crimean parliament. They called the investigation in Crimea as politically motivated and encouraged the Ukrainian law enforcement authorities to investigate the events of that day.