The General Council of the International Association of Russian Advocates (Association Internationale d’Avocats Russes, Strasbourg) expresses its protest in connection with the flagrant facts of pressure, illegal searches, and interference in the professional activities of lawyers (advocates) Emil Kurbedinov and Edem Semedlyaev, as well as jurists Elvina Semedlyaeva, Lilia Gemedzhi, Nazim Sheikhmambetov, and Rustem Kyamilev in the Republic of Crimea.
On December 11, 2025, employees of the Center for Combating Extremism (CPE) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Crimea, supported by armed special forces personnel, conducted coordinated raids on the offices of lawyers and human rights defenders.
At approximately 10:30 AM at the address: Simferopol, Lenina St., 14, apt. 8 (human rights office), and later, at approximately 2:45 PM at the address: Simferopol, Vorovskogo St., 17, office 3/3 (lawyers’ office), illegal searches were effectively carried out under the guise of an operational-search activity titled «examination of premises, buildings, structures, terrain areas, and vehicles». Similar activities were also carried out on the same day at the workplace of the bar association’s accountant.
During these activities, police officers under the leadership of the head of the CPE, Lieutenant Colonel Ruslan Shambazov, grossly violated the fundamental guarantees of the independence of the legal profession. Agreements for the provision of legal assistance containing attorney-client privilege, warrants and their counterfoils, as well as lawyer seal were seized. Furthermore, items and documents were photographed on the personal phones of police officers, and information in the mobile phones of the lawyers was examined. During the raid, the lawyers and jurists were in the position of effectively detained persons; they were prohibited from leaving the premises and communicating freely by phone.
On December 11, 2025, at approximately 11:00 AM, lawyer Kurbedinov arrived at the human rights office to provide legal assistance to the persons inside; however, police officers refused to allow him entry, stating that he was «late for the event». As a result, lawyer Kurbedinov was restricted in his ability to provide qualified legal assistance to Edem Semedlyaev, Nazim Sheikhmambetov, Lilia Gemedzhi, and Rustem Kyamilev.
On December 11, 2025, lawyer Edem Semedlyaev arrived at the lawyers’ office to provide legal assistance to the persons inside, but police officers refused to allow him entry. Consequently, lawyer Semedlyaev was restricted in his ability to provide qualified legal assistance to lawyer Kurbedinov.
Regarding two of the three de facto searches performed, the participating lawyers and jurists were not provided with all necessary copies of procedural documents (court order and the report of the activity) by police officers.
Representatives of the Chamber of Lawyers of the Republic of Crimea were not involved in the de facto searches.
During the activities, police officers exceeded their powers and the prescriptions of judicial acts, gaining access to the bar association’s banking secrets by forcing the organization’s accountant to log into the «bank-client» system and copying confidential financial information regarding clients.
The actions to authorize and conduct the search are currently being appealed.
The formal basis for the intrusion into the lawyers’ office, the human rights office, and the workplace of the bar association’s accountant were orders issued by the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea, Judge V.N. Sklyarov, dated December 9, 2025.
These documents claim that lawyers Kurbedinov and Semedlyaev are «possibly involved» in activities provided for by Articles 205.5 (organization of the activities of a terrorist organization and participation in the activities of such an organization), 205.1 (assistance to terrorist activity), and 199 (tax evasion) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
By sanctioning a de facto search without taking into account any provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and with selective consideration of the norms of the Federal Law «On Advocacy and the Legal Profession in the Russian Federation», the court, in its order, relied on the unsubstantiated assertion of police officers that «paper and electronic information carriers confirming the fact of their possible illegal activity, as well as objects, products, and substances withdrawn from civil circulation, may be stored» in the premises of the human rights office and the lawyers office.
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