Den norske advokatforenings menneskerettighetsutvalg har,
sammen med flere europeiske organisasjoner, tatt initiativ til å signere et
opprop der det protesteres mot russiske myndigheters rettslige skritt mot
advokat Ivan Pavlov.
Menneskerettighetsadvokat Ivan Pavlov og
direktør for Team-29, et team av advokater og journalister som siden 2015 har
arbeidet for ofre for rettslige overgrep, er utsatt for arrestasjon og
rettslige skritt, etter at de kunngjorde at de
ville representere organisasjonene Anti - Corruption Fondation (Kreml-kritikeren
Alex Navalny).
Det fremheves at dette representerer brudd på retten
til ytringsfrihet og strafferettslig prosess. Videre et brudd med advokaters uavhenginghet
og rettslig trakassering i strid med FNs konvensjon om sivile og politiske
rettigheter og den europeiske menneskerettighetskonvensjonen.
«Advokater skal ha frihet til å utøve sitt yrke og lovlig
representere sine klienter uten ekstern innblanding og uten å bli identifisert
med sine klienter eller deres klienters anliggender».
*********
Her er oppropet:
“Joint
statement on the Russian state’s measures against lawyer Ivan Pavlov 18 May
2021
Russian
Federation must end judicial harassment of lawyer Ivan Pavlov and Team-29.
Ivan Pavlov is a prominent human rights lawyer
and director of Team-29, an association of lawyers and journalists. The team
has since 2015 focused their efforts on public access to government information
and providing legal aid to victims of law enforcement abuses. They have worked
on a number of sensitive and high-profile cases filed by Federal Security
Service (FSB).
On April
26, the Moscow City Court held a pretrial hearing in a lawsuit to designate
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s political and anti-corruption
organizations as illegal extremist groups. Team-29 announced they would be
representing the Anti-Corruption Foundation of jailed Kremlin critic Alexey
Navalny.
Four days
later, on April 30th, Mr. Pavlov’s hotel room was searched by FSB officers, and
Mr. Pavlov was detained and interrogated. Searches also took place at the
Team-29 premises and Pavlov’s residence. He is charged with “disclosure of the
data of a preliminary investigation” in relation to his legal representation of
former journalist Ivan Safronov, who is accused of high treason.
The charge
against Pavlov (article 310 of the Criminal code) carries penalties varying
from an 80,000 Rubles fine to an arrest of up to 3 months. Although Mr. Pavlov
was later released from detention, he is banned from using telephone and
internet.
Until now,
Russian lawyers have for the most part been free to exercise their professional
duties. The arrest and measures taken against Mr. Pavlov, however, is among the
Russian and international lawyer community, viewed as connected to his
professional representation of Navalny’s organization.
Whether
there may be issues concerning disclosure of data or not, the abovementioned
actions against Mr. Pavlov and Team-29 represent an infringement of rights to freedom
of expression and criminal due process. In our view, the detention and
restrictions on Mr. Pavlov also violates the independence of lawyers and
represents judicial harassment in contradiction to the UN Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The UN
Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers establish that no lawyer should be
hindered in carrying out his or her professional duties. Lawyers should be free
to practice their profession and legally represent their clients without
external interference and without being identified with their clients or their
clients’ causes.
We
therefore urge the Russian authorities to cease the prosecution and judicial
harassment of Mr. Pavlov and Team-29, and to give due respect to the Rule of
law and the professional rights and role of lawyers.
Oslo, 18
May 2021.
Council of
Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) European Association of Lawyers for
Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH) European Criminal Bar Association
(ECBA) Norwegian Bar Association, Human Rights Committee Swedish Bar
Association”
