April 25, 2007
UPDATE: On June 22, 2007 the Council of Moscow’s Board of Attorneys rejected the Federal Registration Service’s request to disbar Karinna Moskalenko, Russia’s leading human rights lawyer. The President of the Board of Attorneys, Genry Reznik stated that the Council’s decision was final and could not be appealed.
The Prosecutor General’s office is threatening to disbar Karinna Moskalenko, a prominent Russian lawyer who has devoted years of practice to defending human rights.
This is just the latest in a string of baseless, official attacks against Ms. Moskalenko and her organization. It appears to be intended to force her to stop her legal advocacy on behalf of clients viewed unfavorably by the authorities.
Ms. Moskalenko is the founder of the International Protection Center, a non-profit legal assistance organization, and represents victims of human rights abuses before the European Court for Human Rights. She is a recipient of the 2006 International Helsinki Federation Recognition Award.
Government pressure on Ms. Moskalenko goes against standards for official treatment of lawyers and human rights defenders that apply to the Russian Federation. The U.N. Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, adopted in 1990, and the 1998 U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders protect the right of lawyers to conduct their work without fear of retribution by state or non-state agents.
Please take action to show your support for Ms. Moskalenko and for the right of attorneys to defend human rights in Russia.
Background:
Karinna Moskalenko has practiced law in Russia for almost 30 years and is the founder of the International Protection Center, a non-profit legal assistance organization. She represents victims of human rights abuses before the European Court for Human Rights when the Russian courts deny them justice. For her work helping “scores of victims in Russia fight for their rights in court,” Ms. Moskalenko received the 2006 International Helsinki Federation Recognition Award.
The clients that she and her organization represent are often controversial and many other lawyers in Russia would refuse them. They include victims of torture, families of the “disappeared,” and others who have suffered in the context of the controversial war in Chechnya and who are not able to seek justice in Russian courts.
Ms. Moskalenko is also assisting several business and political figures in Russia who have been prosecuted in high profile trials. For example, she is representing Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s in his complaint to the European Court for Human Rights that his right to a fair trial has been violated. She is not part of his criminal defense team in Russia.
In the last few years, official pressure on Ms. Moskalenko and her organization has increased. In July 2006, the Russian tax inspection agency issued an order demanding thousands of dollars in back taxes for what it claimed were profits made by the non-profit organization. The accusations appeared to be unfounded, and amounted to selective application of the tax law as a form of harassment to stop the organization’s work on behalf of high-profile government critics and Chechen victims of human rights abuses. After an international outcry against the accusations, there have been no developments in the case, though it has not been officially dismissed.
In February 2007, Ms. Moskalenko and four defense lawyers representing Khodorkovsky were harassed at Domodedovo airport in Moscow while on their way to visit their client, who is imprisoned in Siberia. Not only were their passports seized and their personal belonging subject to a “special” security check, but confidential legal documents were scrutinized by police and agents of the Russian Ministry of the Interior.
Most recently, on April 18, Ms. Moskalenko received notice that the Prosecutor General’s office issued a motion to the Russian registration service seeking her disbarment in connection with her representation of Khodorkovsky. The reason for the request is apparently connected with Ms. Moskalenko’s failure to appear at a meeting between Khodorkovsky and his criminal defense team. As she is not directly involved in his criminal defense in cases currently before the courts in Russia, there was no requirement for her to attend. Yet the Prosecutor General seized on this as a pretext to claim that she was providing ineffective assistance to her client and to seek her dismissal from the bar. This news came just before Ms. Moskalenko was scheduled to accompany another high profile and politically outspoken client, Garry Kasparov, to a meeting with the Russian security service.
The pressure and harassment Ms. Moskalenko and her organization are enduring are contrary to international principles adopted by the United Nations and applicable to the Russian Federation. The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, adopted in 1990, provide for a number of rights and responsibilities for lawyers based on the international agreement that in the interest of a fairness and equality, all individuals, including those accused or convicted of criminal activity, are entitled to unfettered legal representation.
The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers state:
Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines the principles of equality before the law, the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, and all the guarantees necessary for the defense of everyone charged with a penal offence…Governments shall ensure that lawyers (a) are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference; (b) are able to travel and to consult with their clients freely both within their own country and abroad; and (c) shall not suffer, or be threatened with, prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics.
In addition, as a human rights lawyer, Ms. Moskalenko’s rights are protected under the 1998 U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders protects the rights of anyone seeking to defend human rights.
Sample Letter:
Vladimir Lukin, Human Rights Ombudsman
c/o H.E. Ambassador Yuri V. Ushakov
Embassy of the Russian Federation to the United States
2650 Wisconsin Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Fax: 202-298-5735
Dear Mr. Lukin:
I write to express my concern about the Prosecutor General’s efforts to disbar Russian human rights attorney Karinna Moskalenko. Ms. Moskalenko is a prominent and internationally recognized human rights lawyer whose work should not be hindered by intimidation and pressure from the Russian government.
Ms. Moskalenko is the founder of the International Protection Center, a non-profit legal assistance organization, and represents victims of human rights abuses before the European Court for Human Rights. She is a recipient of the 2006 International Helsinki Federation Recognition Award.
The pressure and harassment Ms. Moskalenko and her organization are enduring are contrary to international principles adopted by the United Nations and applicable to the Russian Federation. The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, adopted in 1990, provide for a number of rights and responsibilities for lawyers based on the international agreement that in the interest of a fairness and equality, all individuals, including those accused or convicted of criminal activity, are entitled to unfettered legal representation.
The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, adopted in 1990, states:
Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines the principles of equality before the law, the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, and all the guarantees necessary for the defense of everyone charged with a penal offence…
16. Governments shall ensure that lawyers (a) are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference; (b) are able to travel and to consult with their clients freely both within their own country and abroad; and (c) shall not suffer, or be threatened with, prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics.
These principles are universally applicable and the government of the Russian Federation should uphold them. In addition, the 1998 U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders protects the rights of anyone seeking to defend human rights.
Therefore, I respectfully ask that Ms. Moskalenko and her organization no longer be targeted for intimidation and harassment through official means, including threats of disbarment and unfounded registration and tax inspections. I will continue to follow this case closely.