Devil's lawyer: Is it possible to prevent the defenders from putting their customers by appointment

Last week, the Ministry of Justice published a draft amendments, which should prevent the investigators from attracting “pocket” lawyers for their intended purpose. OVD-Info tells how government lawyers help plant their customers, how new rules will say and why the initiative has a double bottom.

The Ministry of Justice proposes to recognize the testimony given in the presence of a state lawyer unacceptable if he was appointed with violations. The agency prepared a bill that will amend, including in Article 75 of the Code of Criminal Procedure “Inadmissible evidence”. However, the changes concern not only her, but also the process of parole.

The Russian law community has long complained about investigators who offer the accused “their” lawyer: such defenders, instead of working on the ward, help him to put him. Often, accused simply do not inform that they can invite their defender.

In 2015, about 70 lawyers signed an appeal to the Federal Chamber of Lawyers (FPA) with a request to resolve the participation of lawyers on their appointment in the process. The reason for the appeal was the case of Dmitry Buchenkov, detained in the case of riots in Bolotnaya Square. For a month, his defender Svetlana Sidorkina could not get to him. At this time, Buchenkov’s interests were represented by a lawyer for appointment, who did not even appeal the arrest of the activist.

The case with Dmitry Buchenkov is far from the only one. For example, the defendant of the “Affairs of March 26” Stanislav Zimovts was not allowed to call his lawyer after the detention, and the lawyer persuaded the guilty for herself. According to the activist, they crushed him: every day they carried it to investigative actions and gave out only drypers. Zimovets suffered from pain in his stomach and lack of sleep. Shortly before the end of the preliminary investigation, he announced this and abandoned the defender. However, the court considered him guilty, based on the testimony that were given during the preliminary investigation. Stanislav Zimovts was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison under Article 318 of the Criminal Code (violence against a police officer). In early 2018, he filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Last year, a suspect in an attempt to arson, an activist of the Stop GOK environmental movement in the Chelyabinsk region, Gamil Asatullin, informed his lawyer Andrei Lepikhin that he was threatened by employees of the Center for Combating Extremism. According to Asatullin, they demanded that Vasily Moskovets be testified to one of the leaders of the movement of Vasily, as well as abandon the services of Lepakhin. Under pressure, the eco -activist was forced to write paper about the refusal of the services of a lawyer and accusing the leader of Stop GOK that he was supposedly the initiator of arson. After Asatullin wrote a refusal to Lepukhin’s services, an appointment lawyer came for an interrogation. If the bill of the Ministry of Justice had already been adopted, then the accusations against Moskovtsov could be recognized unacceptable directly at the first court session.

Computer help

The law on advocacy was not so long ago adopted amendments, requiring the FPA to determine the distribution scheme of lawyers for their intended purpose. The chamber has ruled that each subject of the Russian Federation must determine the order itself.

According to lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov, now everyone is striving to move on to an automatic random distribution using a computer. The same order is proposed in the bill of the Ministry of Justice.

“At every congress of lawyers, we are talking about the need to completely switch to an automatic system,” says Smirnov. - It takes time and money. Somewhere, as, for example, in St. Petersburg, this has already happened, somewhere else, and in the old fashioned way they use the lawyers schedule indicating who works on which day. The bill of the Ministry of Justice as a whole is a plus. Both for lawyers and customers, as it helps to level the harm that lawyers cooperating with the investigation. ”

According to Smirnov, gradual computerization helps to make the process of appointing a lawyer more independent. However, the problem with “pocket” defenders still exists.

“All the same, there are lawyers who come to the investigator in violation of the system,” Smirnov notes. “This can only be found out through the ward of lawyers who will say whether the application came to this person or not.”

The lawyer notes that most often the information that someone took part in working with the accused, and in fact worked for the investigation, does not reach the ward, and the victim does not have the opportunity to complain. Moreover, more than half the affairs are in a special order, that is, without researching evidence, a person simply pleads guilty. If the accused was condemned because of the “pocket” lawyer for their intended purpose, then the only way to punish him is to acquire his own defender, who will be able to convey information to the Chamber of Lawyers.

The lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina agrees with Smirnov in assessing the situation.

“There is a problem, complaints often come to us about this,” says Sidorkina. - I believe that if the lawyer was appointed in violation of the regulations of the region, then this is the basis for bringing him to disciplinary liability. However, if he did not commit procedural violations and did not violate the rights of the client, then I think that in the order of the 75th article cannot be said about unacceptable evidence. ”

Sidorkina notes that it is impossible to judge categorically - there are lawyers for their intended purpose who work very well.

“Most often, if a person is detained for the first time and gets to the investigator, then he does not know how to behave,” says Sidorkina. - It is necessary that the investigator has the obligation to explain to the suspect that he has the opportunity to choose a lawyer himself. If the investigator did not do this, then there must be consequences. Now, on this occasion in the law, the streamlined wording is what investigators use, but there should be a clear distribution between the right and the obligation of the investigator. ”

Udo will become paid

In the same bill, the Ministry of Justice proposes to change several articles of the Criminal Code-in particular, on parole. If the bill is accepted, then only paying the procedural costs, including the costs of an appointment lawyer, will be able to go out ahead of schedule. The same applies to the possibility of replacing the unsuitable part of the punishment softer.

According to lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov, there is a favorite reception here: to add some less attractive to a good legislative initiative.

“If a person has not reimbursed the expenses for an appointed lawyer, then he will not have the opportunity to free himself at Udo,” Smirnov believes. - This will significantly reduce the number of people who can come ahead of schedule. Usually, after working with a lawyer, as intended, amounts are accumulated in the region of 100 thousand rubles, or even more. A huge number of people will not pull them. ”

Evgeny Smirnov is sure that the changes are due to the fact that in the near future it is planned to increase bets for lawyers for their intended purpose. This will entail additional budget expenditures. To somehow reduce them, and new amendments are introduced, the lawyer believes.