Dagestani Gashimova’s desire to defend herself may be treated as rare case, advocate says

Ulker Gashimova, a native of Makhachkala, who was detained at a Moscow airport, has the right to defend herself, but cases of complete refusal of the services of an advocate are very rare, reports advocate Yevgeny Chernousov. Anton Kolomitsyn, a fiancé of Ulker Gashimova, does not leave attempts to hire an advocate for her, addressing human rights defenders for help.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on May 5, it became known that the police had detained 23-year-old activist Ulker Gashimova while she tried to fly out of Russia. Her fiancé said that Ulker Gashimova planned to apply for political asylum in the Netherlands. After two arrests in the Moscow Region, Ulker Gashimova was sent to Dagestan, and since then she has been staying in a Makhachkala SIZO (pre-trial prison). On July 5, it became known that Ulker Gashimova refused an advocate and decided to defend herself.

Advocate Yevgeny Chernousov notes that formally, Ulker Gashimova has the right to defend herself. “But in reality, such cases are very rare, almost unique ... If she has suspicions about local advocates that they are connected with the court or the investigators, she may conclude an agreement with an advocate from another region. This is a common practice when a person does not trust advocates in his or her region,” noted advocate Yevgeny Chernousov.

Ulker Gashimova stays in the SIZO of Makhachkala, her fiancé Anton Kolomitsyn reports. According to him, Ulker Gashimova studied at a music school in Makhachkala, but left it in October 2022 after she began to miss the lessons “Conversations about the important”, and during a gathering, she was shamed for “laying out everything she thought about those conversations.”

Anton Kolomitsyn admitted that he did not know what charges were brought against Ulker Gashimova, but suggested that might be connected with her pro-Ukrainian comments on the social media. In total, according to Anton Kolomitsyn, Ulker Gashimova wrote comments in about 500 Telegram channels.