The decision to become a defender

Melania: What's happening this summer is outrageous. People expressed their civic position and faced problems that seemed to me a great injustice. This feeling prompted me to go to a seminar by my friend Denis Shedov, a lawyer at the Memorial human rights center.

Elizaveta: I’m a law student—it seems to me that lawyers are especially sensitive to injustice in the judicial system, because we understand well how it happens and why it shouldn’t be that way. In addition, over the past few years I have been following the protests, and I myself was almost detained several times. I understand how scary it is to be alone in this situation. As OVD-Info often writes , we are here so that people are not left alone with the system.

Lydia: I received a letter from the practice manager saying that help was needed in the courts, and I realized that I couldn’t stand by. Everyone expresses their position in their own way . I don’t go to rallies—I’m afraid. But I greatly admire people who take to the streets to defend their opinions. So I decided to help them as much as I could.

Alina: Lately I have been very worried about everything that is happening in Russia. I read the news and tears come to my eyes. At some point, the fact that I was looking at this and doing nothing began to choke me. She promised her parents not to go to rallies so that they would not worry again, entered the Faculty of Law and went to defend the protesters.

Abu: Punishing people for peacefully expressing their point of view is wrong. Also, human rights is something I plan to pursue in the future. By defending illegally detained people in courts, I am getting closer to my goal. It is also a way to express one's civic position.

Ksenia: I became scared because the mechanisms of civil society were not working well and people were left without protection.

Preparation

Melania: The information at the seminar at the Memorial human rights center and a certain amount of practice are quite enough to speak in district courts.

Elizaveta: Anyone can become a defender. This requires special training, including for trial lawyers who work in other areas. You need to familiarize yourself with judicial practice, understand what petitions to file, how to communicate with your client - people are very often scared, and learned helplessness is common among them.

Lydia: You need desire - this is the most important thing. If you have a law degree or are a law student, it will be much easier.

Alina: I was very afraid that without a legal education it would be difficult, but at a three-hour seminar we discussed all the intricacies of such cases. is very useful The “Help yourself” instruction from OVD-Info .

Abu: The only thing you need is a desire to help both the detainees and the OVD-Info lawyers , since the flow of cases is colossal.

Ksenia: To become a public defender, you need basic knowledge of law and a desire to learn and help. You gain experience quite quickly.

First impressions

Melania: Feeling involved in protecting those whose rights have been violated is both great and scary. You understand that there is no independent judiciary: everyone follows orders from above. The judges seriously believe that the protesters are “accomplices of the State Department” who must have been paid by someone .

Elizaveta: Many people who get acquainted with the judicial bureaucratic system say: “I heard that everything was bad, but I didn’t imagine that it was so bad.” Approximately these feelings appear after the first court hearing.

Lydia: I remember the first day, not the first meeting - it turned out that I ended up with five cases at once. When I arrived, there were no materials for the case, I had to wait a long time. The first judge hardly listened to me, the second tried to “teach me the law” by talking about the “motion stage” (spoiler: it’s not here). As a result, I spent about 11 hours in court.