Russian lawyers for arrested Estonian police officer contest his arrest
MOSCOW. Sept 11 (Interfax) - The defense lawyers for Estonian police officer Eston Kohver, who was arrested in Russia on suspicion of espionage, have contested his arrest.
"An appeal has been filed with the Lefortovo Court contesting Kohver's arrest," Nikolai Polozov, a lawyer for Kohver, told Interfax on Thursday.
The lawyer said the deadline for appeals has already expired, but the defense lawyers are asking the court to set a new deadline due to the fact that new lawyers have joined the work on the case.
"We are asking for the court ruling to be annulled. He was not provided with an interpreter at the court hearing and the case materials were not provided to him in his native language. These are major violations, which are grounds for the annulment of the decision on his arrest," the lawyer said.
The lawyer said earlier on Thursday Kohver has been officially charged and is facing up to twenty years in jail if convicted.
Estonian security police officer Eston Kohver has been detained in the Pskov region, at that the detainee was working on an undercover operation, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on September 5.
"Eston Kohver, a citizen of Estonia belonging to the Tartu division of the Estonian Interior Ministry's Internal Security Service, has been detained on Russian territory," the FSB press service told Interfax.
On September 6 Moscow's Lefortovsky court placed the suspect under arrest. Lawyers Polozov and Mark Feygin will represent him. They defended Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, and prior to this they were lawyers for the Pussy Riot band.
Kohver denies his guilt, a source familiar with the situation told Interfax on September 8.
