Joint oral statement to Human Rights Council on the Russian Federation

Russian Federation

The statement reads as follows:

The International Bar Association, Lawyers for Lawyers and lawyers’ Rights watch Canada thank the Special Rapporteur for her comprehensive report. We condemn widespread and escalating attacks on independent lawyers in Russia, including judicial harassment, arbitrary disciplinary actions, disbarments, and criminal charges. Lawyers are repeatedly labelled “foreign agents”, simply for performing their legal duties and defending the rule of law and face severe pressure, including prosecution and physical violence amounting to torture and ill-treatment.

We are extremely concerned about the law “On Advocacy and the Legal Profession” aiming at expanding the Ministry of Justice’s oversight of the legal profession through centralized administrative control, including the power to impose disciplinary sanctions.

We are further concerned about amendments to the Law on State Secrets, imposing notification of departure on lawyers with access to broadly defined sensitive information. This severely limits their ability to leave the country, especially when facing prosecution.

We condemn the arbitrary detention of the three lawyers who represented Aleksei Navalny, currently facing charges of extremism and we urge Russia to release them unconditionally.

In this context it is imperative to maintain rigorous monitoring on Russia. We therefore urge this Council to
renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and ensure additional resources necessary to fulfil its role. We call on Russia to end any persecution and prosecution of lawyers.