MOSCOW. Nov 7 (Interfax) - Former commander of an air defense unit of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Volodymyr Tsemakh is prepared to provide testimony to investigators from the Netherlands probing the crash of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) in Donbas in July 2014, Tsemakh's lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said.
"My client stands ready to provide testimony to Dutch investigators, provided that his rights are guaranteed, in order to prove his innocence and protect his good name and reputation," Kucherena said.
Kucherena said that once he became Tsemakh's lawyer, the two discussed terms and conditions of his possible meeting with Dutch investigators.
"Naturally, he can be questioned only in his homeland, in Donbas," he said.
Kucherena said Tsemakh had personally asked him in writing to represent him in various instances, possibly including the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
"Volodymyr wrote asking me to defend him, as he had found himself in a very difficult situation. He described all the horrors he had to go through after his abduction in Snizhne and his degrading and humiliating treatment by the Ukrainian special services," Kucherena said.
Tsemakh's situation is particularly special in that he cannot come to Russia, as he has been declared wanted in Russia, in Ukraine, and in the Netherlands, Kucherena said.
"I'll do my best for the ECHR to accept our application and consider the problem facing Tsemakh and to assess the humiliation he was subjected to in Kyiv," he said.