'Chiygoz, 52, is a leader of the Majlis, the Crimean Tatar assembly that was outlawed by Russia after Moscow's forcible takeover of the Black Sea peninsula.
Two other Crimean Tatars charged in connection with the demonstration -- Ali Asanov and Mustafa Degermendzhy -- are recognized as political prisoners by the Russian human rights group Memorial.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and other international organizations have called for their release.'<blockquote>'Polozov compared Russia's annexation of Crimea with the annexation of Austria by Adolf Hitler's Germany in 1938, saying that in both cases officials used slogans about "the unity of the nation, historic justice, and return to the native harbor."
He also said in Austria and in Crimea, opponents of the takeover faced reprisals.
"Those Austrians who wanted to see their country independent were tried and sent to concentration camps, similar to what Russia is doing now with those who oppose the annexation," Polozov said.
..
Polozov cited a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders after World War II as saying that they were "the first case when criminals who seized a country to commit their horrendous crimes were brought to a courtroom."
"Unfortunately, in my country, in the Russian Federation, what we see in the last 18 years is the same: criminals who seized the country and are using it for their horrendous crimes," Polozov said.
Putin has been in power as president or prime minister since 1999.
..
He urged the judge and court officers "not to become accomplices of those who seized this country and not to do evil things along with them."
"I call on the court to make a moral choice.... because in 1938, when Austria was seized, nobody thought that in seven years, many of the functionaries and their flunkies ended up...in courtrooms as defendants, at the least," he said.
..
Chiygoz, 52, is a leader of the Majlis, the Crimean Tatar assembly that was outlawed by Russia after Moscow's forcible takeover of the Black Sea peninsula.
Two other Crimean Tatars charged in connection with the demonstration -- Ali Asanov and Mustafa Degermendzhy -- are recognized as political prisoners by the Russian human rights group Memorial.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and other international organizations have called for their release.
Russia moved swiftly to take over Crimea .. The Russian takeover badly damaged Moscow's relations with Kyiv and the West and resulted in the imposition of sanctions by the European Union, the United States, and several other countries.'
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Lawyer For Crimean Tatar Leader Compares Russia With Nazi Germany, August 10, 2017</blockquote>
Context<blockquote>
'..Russia .. hints at the direction Congress will go in the event of an escalation.''..maintaining or getting back Ukraine’s “integrity and territorial sovereignty” .. sanctions against Russia..''..Our policymakers and commanders must have a complete understanding of Russia’s military capabilities..'</blockquote>