The St. Petersburg Bar Association has decided that Ivan Pavlov is harming Ivan Safronov when he calls himself his lawyer

The Qualification Commission of the St. Petersburg Bar Association believes that lawyer Ivan Pavlov cannot position himself as a defense attorney for journalist Ivan Safronov , who is accused of treason .

In January, the qualification commission found violations in Pavlov's work as part of the consideration of the complaint of the Ministry of Justice. At that time, the reasoning behind the commission's decision was unknown. Pavlov received it later and published it on his Telegram channel on February 8.

The commission concluded that because of his status as a "wanted person," Pavlov is unable to legally practice law in Russia, but continues to call himself Safronov's defense attorney. This misleads the client and violates his interests, since he forms a false impression of Pavlov's ability to organize an effective defense, the commission said.

“Using a situation for this purpose, when a lawyer in the public sphere talks about his exclusive role in providing legal assistance to his client, but in fact cannot, due to the status of a ‘wanted person’, engage in legal activity, in the opinion of the commission, is an unacceptable way of ‘earning’ popularity,” the conclusion says.

The commission also mentioned the status of "foreign agent" assigned to Pavlov. It "is not formally discriminatory in nature," but "regardless of the reasons and justification" may "negatively affect the assessment of the lawyer by an indefinite number of people... including those potentially involved in the criminal case against Safronov."

“It is clear from the content of the conclusion that someone is simply burning with the desire to exclude me from the list of Ivan Safronov’s defenders,” Pavlov commented on the commission’s reasoning.

The commission's conclusion has been sent to the council of the St. Petersburg Bar Association. If the council agrees with the commission's arguments, Pavlov faces punishment up to and including termination of his status as a lawyer.

• In April 2021, Ivan Pavlov was accused of disclosing investigative secrets in the Ivan Safronov case. The lawyer faced up to three months of arrest and disbarment. Pavlov left Russia, claiming that the restrictions imposed in connection with the criminal case made his work impossible. Pavlov was put on the wanted list and given the status of "foreign agent".