President Putin,

4, Staraya Square,

Moscow 10132

Russian Federation

29 May 2007

Dear President Putin,

Re Ms Karinna Moskalenko (Ms Moskalenko)

We are writing on behalf of the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association (IBA) in connection with the harassment and intimidation of lawyer Karinna Moskalenko.

In its role as a dual membership organization, comprising 30,000 individual lawyers and over 195 Bar Associations and Law Societies, the IBA influences the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the legal profession. Its Member Organisations cover all continents. The IBA’s Human Rights Institute works across the association, helping to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law, and to preserve the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession worldwide.

Ms Moskalenko is a Russian lawyer well known for representing victims of human rights abuses before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Whilst her clients include high profile political and business figures such as Mikhail Khordorkovsky, Ms Moskalenko has also acted on behalf of victims of torture in Chechnya and elsewhere. She has also represented families of the victims of the Moscow ‘Dubrovka’ theatre siege; as well as the outspoken political opposition leader Garry Kasparov.

Based on a number of published reports, we are concerned that Ms Moskalenko has been subject to harassment, intimidation and pressure intended to discourage her from acting on behalf of her clients and, in particular, to prevent her from taking cases to the ECHR. With the same apparent objective, it is understood that Ms Moskalenko has been threatened with allegations that may cause her to be disbarred. Since October 2005, reports suggest that the Prosecutor General’s office has embarked on a number of attempts to have Ms Moskalenko expelled from the Moscow Bar. 

We are similarly concerned at information received by the IBA indicating that Ms Moskalenko and four other lawyers representing Mr Khordokovsky were detained at Moscow airport in March 2007 while visiting their client in Chita, Siberia. It is understood that the lawyers’ passports were seized and their belongings were subject to a special security check involving a detailed examination of confidential legal documents by the police and agents of the Ministry of the Interior.

The IBA is further concerned by the fact that, as demonstrated in the case of Ms Moskalenko, a number of published reports suggest that the Russian Federation has, on occasion, sought to interfere with attempts made by its citizens to complain to the ECHR. Such moves are of particular significance at a time when the Russian Federation chairs the Council of Ministers in the Council of Europe, a body charged with the primary objectives of monitoring compliance with the judgements of the ECHR.

We should thus like to remind you of certain rights that should be afforded to all citizens of the Russian Federation. In particular, Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights to which Russia is a state party; and Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified by Russia in 1973; uphold that all persons charged with a criminal offence have the right to defend themselves through legal counsel of their own choosing. Moreover, Article 17 of the Russian Federation further recognises and guarantees ‘the rights and freedoms of its citizens in accordance with the principles and norms of international law’.

We would also like to draw your attention to the obligations of the Russian Federation under the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers; in particular, Article 8 states that ‘all arrested, detained or imprisoned persons shall be provided with adequate opportunities to communicate and consult with a lawyer, without delay, interception or censorship and in full confidentiality’. Article 16 provides that governments shall ensure that lawyers are (a) able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference; (b) 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 recognised professional duties, standards and ethics. Article 17 states that where the security of lawyers is threatened as a result of discharging their functions, they shall be adequately safeguarded by the authorities; Article 18 provides that lawyers shall not be identified with their clients or their clients' causes as a result of discharging their functions; and Article 23 states that lawyers, like other citizens, are entitled to freedom of expression, belief, association and assembly. The timing and manner of Ms Moskalenko’s treatment raises a number of serious concerns as to whether the rights guaranteed under the ECHR, the ICCPR and the United Nations Basic Principals on the Role of Lawyers have been properly accorded.

We would be grateful to receive further information surrounding the circumstances outlined above and request that your Government takes the necessary measures to procure that the attacks on Ms Moskalenko immediately cease and she is allowed to carry out her professional duties without interference. Furthermore, we request that steps are taken to ensure that Ms Moskalenko and her associates are afforded the rights guaranteed by virtue of the international conventions and resolutions outlined above. We should finally like to remind you that the Russian Federation has an obligation to ensure that the above rights are not only assured, but are demonstrably seen to be assured.

Yours sincerely,

Ambassador Emilio Càrdenas                                   

Justice Richard J. Goldstone

Human Rights Institute Council Co-Chairs

CC: Vladamir Lukin, Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation;

       Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Russian Federation;