Lawyer defending Ukrainian prisoners of war detained in Crimea

Lawyer Aleksey Ladin, who represents Ukrainian prisoners of war (PoWs) and political prisoners, has been detained in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Source: Graty, a Ukrainian media on social and political events and trends through the lens of the courts, citing Ladin's Crimean colleagues and family members

Details: Ladin was reportedly coming back from the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, where he participated in court hearings in the cases of Ukrainian PoWs who are being tried in the Southern District Military Court of the Russian Federation.

Ladin was supposed to arrive in Simferopol and was going to take part in a hearing on the extension of the preventive measure for a resident of the city of Yalta accused of possessing explosives.

Upon his arrival in Simferopol, the lawyer was detained, and his residence in Sevastopol was searched afterwards.

Lawyer Lili Gemedzhi said early information suggests that Ladin is accused of "discrediting the Russian army" through a Facebook post, but no details are available yet.

After the search, they took the lawyer with them, and now his colleagues are trying to find him.

Updated: Later it became known that Ladin was arrested in Crimea for 14 days. This was reported by Emil Kurbedinov.

The Court of Simferopol, controlled by the Russian Federation, also fined the lawyer for 45,000 roubles ( about US$461).

Ladin participated in many trials involving Crimean Tatars accused of involvement in the Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic movement, as well as in the cases of pro-Ukrainian activists in Crimea.

Once the full-scale invasion began, Ladin defended Ukrainian PoWs and abducted civilians whom the Russian authorities charged with criminal offences.

Ladin is currently representing Yaroslav Zhuk, an activist from the city of Melitopol, Ukraine, who’s tried in Rostov-on-Don; the man was accused of a terrorist attack.

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