Lawyer Nikolai Polozov said that the FSB threatened to open a criminal case against him for refusing to testify. He wrote about this on Twitter.
"Well, the FSB released me. I haven’t disclosed them the lawyer-client privilege, they threatened me with criminal case for refusing to testify", Polozov wrote.
Senior Deputy Minister of information policy Emine Dzheppar stated that detention of Polozov is a violation of law, including Russian law.
"Even under the laws of the Russian Federation this arrest is a chaos, which is contrary to the laws of the Constitution and the activity of the lawyer. Polozov told me that this is an attempt of pressure on him. It is also message for Nikolay and for all those who defend the people in political affairs, it's the message to be careful... This interrogation is a signal and a sign, they will only deepen the repression and resort to pressure on lawyers," she said.