Watchdog

A Russian lawyer who is defending a prominent Crimean Tatar activist says he was forcibly detained and taken to a Federal Security Service's (FSB) office in Russia-controlled Crimea on January 25.

Nikolai Polozov, who was seen being forced into a car by men in civilian clothes, said he was released two hours later.

He said FSB officers had used psychological pressure in an effort to force him to answer questions related to the case of his client, Ilmi Umerov.

Polozov added that he refused to answer the questions.

Polozov's colleague Mark Feigin said earlier on Twitter that Polozov would risk being barred from representing Umerov if he invoked his right to protect his client's privacy.

Umerov, former deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatars' self-governing body, the Mejlis, was charged with separatism last year after he publicly criticized Moscow's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014.

In August, Umerov was forcibly sent to a psychiatric clinic for a month of assessment tests.

The Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Center has called the case against Umerov "illegal and politically motivated."

MOSCOW -- Legislation that would decriminalize some forms of domestic violence has advanced easily in the Russian parliament despite vehement criticism from human rights and family protection groups.

The bill sailed through the second of three votes in the State Duma, Russia’s lower parliament house, with nearly unanimous support on January 25. The vote was 385-2, with one abstention.

Backers say the bill will prevent the state from meddling in the affairs of families, which President Vladimir Putin has placed at the heart of a pivot toward what he casts as traditional Russian values.

The legislation would reduce battery against a close relative from a criminal offense to an administrative misdemeanor.

Amnesty International has called it a "sickening attempt to trivialize domestic violence."

Opponents have urged lawmakers to reject the legislation and this week sought to hold a rally of protest in central Moscow but were denied permission by the city authorities.

The bill will go to Putin for signature if it passes one more vote in the Duma and one in the upper house.

With reporting by Kommersant