Russian services now turn to lawyers | …

During a coordinated campaign in Russia’s two main cities, authorities on Friday raided several addresses linked to an opposition lawyer known for his work against the FSB, the country’s increasingly assertive security agency. Ivan Pavlov, in Moscow to represent former journalist Ivan Safronov in a controversial spy case, was arrested at his hotel at six in the morning. Meanwhile, seven hundred kilometers northwest of St. Petersburg, raids began on the office of his legal organization, the department of his family and a department that belongs to his IT manager.

A colleague said Pavlov was being detained on suspicion of revealing secret judicial evidence. But the lawyer’s crime appears to be broader: angering the FSB with what his friends describe as a “pedantic” approach to the law. His arrest sends a clear warning to other lawyers with the intention of causing hardship to the state.

Specializing in matters related to intelligence or espionage, Pavlov handled the most sensitive cases produced by the Russian legal system. Among his current affairs is the representation of the legal structures of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who faces charges of extremism.

His defense of journalist Safronov in particular appears to have led to a public dispute with the FSB. The case has been kept under wraps from the start and Safronov has yet to receive a clear explanation of the charges he faces. Pavlov refused to sign documents formally filing the proceedings, saying state secrets were already covered by existing laws. He said the request amounted to an attempt to gag Safronov’s legal team.

“They deny us the possibility of a decent defense by revealing the scandalous aspects of the case,” he said at the time. In comments on his Facebook page, Yevgeny Smirnov, a colleague of Team 29, an association of Russian lawyers and journalists who defend the right of Russian citizens to access information, alleged that Pavlov had received several threats. direct FSB investigators Safronov case warning him of the arrest.

“They told him directly: we have suffocated you and we are going to arrest you,” Smirnov wrote. Those who know Pavlov describe him as a “meticulous professional”, analytical and with unparalleled knowledge of the law.

Grigory Pasko, a militar periodista who quien Pavlov represented in dos juicios de espionaje de viola perfil a fines de la década de 1990 y principios de la de 2000, told The Independent that los investigadores estatales se habían “enojado” con el porque era ” very clever”. It is almost “surprising” that the FSB “took so long” to stop it, he added. “Ivan is a skilled mathematician, which can be seen in all aspects of his work,” he said. “He doesn’t like to make mistakes and he usually doesn’t.”

They would have decided to do it now for three reasons, suggested Pasko. First, to dissuade Pavlov’s professional team from taking up cases involving law enforcement. Second, serve as a pretext to restore them the privilege of appointing in-house lawyers in secret trials, essentially removing the defense from the courtrooms. Third, scare independent lawyers in general.

Russian security agencies appear to operate more freely after the Kremlin declared victory in the constitutional vote last July. This vote gave Putin the keys to staying in power until 2036. Since then, and with the poisoning, evacuation, return and imprisonment of Navalny in the background, the repressive apparatus of the state accelerated. With an intensity not seen since the days of the Soviet Union, the authorities have issued search warrants at the homes of dozens of opposition figures, activists and journalists.

Most lawyers have escaped direct intimidation. But in a Kafkaesque preview of what ended up happening to him, Pavlov warned of starting arrests in the region. He even founded an organization called The Prague Club to advocate for lawyers facing such issues. Pavel Chikov, who heads a legal defense NGO called Agora, said it seemed the state had now decided to “use the penal code” against the entire legal profession.

Later on Friday, a court met without Pavlov to decide on the conditions of detention of Ivan Safronov, who has now been in prison for almost ten months. The absence of a defense lawyer did not affect the outcome in particular, and a judge quickly accepted the prosecution’s request to extend pre-trial detention for another two months until July.

From The Independent of Great Britain. Special for Páginal12

Translation: Celita Doyhambéhère