Threats, arrests – even murder: After human rights activists, lawyers are increasingly being targeted by the Russian state. Numerous lawyers are now going on strike in protest.
The arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s lawyers was ultimately the straw that broke the camel’s back. Over 250 Russian lawyers want to stop working from today until next Saturday.
It is more than a solidarity strike for the three detained colleagues whom the Russian authorities accuse of extremism. The cases of the imprisoned colleagues are an example of the fact that independent legal practice is almost impossible in Russia today, says Kaloy Akhilgov in the online program “Zhivoy Gvozd”.
“In the petition we demand to organize objective investigations into all cases and to collect facts about the threats, obstacles and intimidation of lawyers,” Akhilgov said. The criminal prosecution of the lawyers must be stopped.
house searches, Acts of violence and murder
The lawyer Akhilgov is one of the signatories of a petition calling for the immediate release of Navalny’s lawyers. In addition, it also denounces the harassment that lawyers are exposed to in Russia: attempts at intimidation, house searches, ignoring applications, trumped-up charges and even acts of violence and murder.
But the Federal Russian Bar Association distances itself from those who signed the petition and those who took part in the strike: There are known cases in which lawyers are hindered in their work. But this must be dealt with responsibly and professionally and should not be responded to with demagogic noise, according to an official statement. They do not want to comment on the imprisonment of Navalny’s lawyers – they do not know enough about the content of the allegations.
“The lawyers don’t stand up for each other”
For Akhilgov, it is not surprising that the petition and the three-day strike are not met with a positive response, even if he does not really understand it. “Of course the Federal Bar Association was against it,” Akhilgov said. But he is of the opinion that the strike in itself is not a bad thing. This is a common procedure, even in highly developed countries. “And strikes do have an effect,” said the lawyer.
If many colleagues took part in a long strike, the Russian justice system could be paralyzed for a while: no arrests, no extension of prison sentences, no trials. Akhilgow states somewhat disappointedly: “I think that unfortunately there is a big problem. Our professional group doesn’t stick together at all. The lawyers don’t stand up for each other.”
Nevertheless, around 200 people decided to sign the petition.
Only that human rights activists, now the lawyers
The top Russian lawyer Ilya Novikov, whose license was revoked in his homeland and who now lives in Kiev, sees the lawyers of political prisoners like Navalny in particular at risk – after the human rights activists, they are now being targeted by the Russian authorities.
Novikov told the independent Russian Internet portal “Mediazona”: “The lawyers know that you can’t get rich with it anyway and that at best you can emerge as a moral winner. You’ll go down, but with your flag raised.”
This metaphor has been used many times, says Novikov – for example when it came to the liquidation of the human rights organization “Memorial”. Now, after the human rights activists, it is the turn of the legal community.
This is also why many lawyers are now taking cover and would rather keep their mouths shut, Novikov continued. The attitude to the war in Ukraine has already shown what happens when lawyers don’t follow the Kremlin line: “Because the people who said from the beginning that there was something wrong with the war – and continue to say that – They are either in custody, emigrated or are no longer lawyers.”