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IDHAE INFORMATION
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Karinna Moskalenko has
practiced law in Russia for almost 30 years and is the founder of the
International Protection Center, a non-profit legal assistance
organization. She represents victims of human rights abuses before the
European Court for Human Rights when the Russian courts deny them
justice. For her work helping "scores of victims in Russia fight
for their rights in court," Ms. Moskalenko received the 2006
International Helsinki Federation Recognition Award. The clients that she and her
organization represent are often controversial and many other lawyers in
Russia would refuse them. They include victims of torture, families of
the "disappeared," and others who have suffered in the context of
the controversial war in Chechnya and who are not able to seek justice in Russian
courts. Ms. Moskalenko is also assisting
several business and political figures in Russia who have been prosecuted in
high profile trials. For example, she is representing Mikhail
Khodorkovsky's in his complaint to the European Court for Human Rights that
his right to a fair trial has been violated. She is not part of his
criminal defense team in Russia. In the last few years, official
pressure on Ms. Moskalenko and her organization has increased. In July
2006, the Russian tax inspection agency issued an order demanding thousands
of dollars in back taxes for what it claimed were profits made by the
non-profit organization. The accusations appeared to be unfounded, and
amounted to selective application of the tax law as a form of harassment to stop
the organization's work on behalf of high-profile government critics and
Chechen victims of human rights abuses. After an international outcry
against the accusations, there have been no developments in the case, though
it has not been officially dismissed. In February 2007, Ms. Moskalenko
and four defense lawyers representing Khodorkovsky were harassed at
Domodedovo airport in Moscow while on their way to visit their client, who is
imprisoned in Siberia. Not only were their passports seized and their
personal belonging subject to a "special" security check, but
confidential legal documents were scrutinized by police and agents of the
Russian Ministry of the Interior. Most recently, on April 18, Ms.
Moskalenko received notice that the Prosecutor General's office issued a
motion to the Russian registration service seeking her disbarment in
connection with her representation of Khodorkovsky. The reason for the
request is apparently connected with Ms. Moskalenko's failure to appear at a
meeting between Khodorkovsky and his criminal defense team. As she is
not directly involved in his criminal defense in cases currently before the
courts in Russia, there was no requirement for her to attend. Yet the
Prosecutor General seized on this as a pretext to claim that she was
providing ineffective assistance to her client and to seek her dismissal from
the bar. This news came just before Ms. Moskalenko was scheduled to
accompany another high profile and politically outspoken client, Garry
Kasparov, to a meeting with the Russian security service. The pressure and harassment Ms.
Moskalenko and her organization are enduring are contrary to international
principles adopted by the United Nations and applicable to the Russian
Federation. The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, adopted in
1990, provide for a number of rights and responsibilities for lawyers based
on the international agreement that in the interest of a fairness and
equality, all individuals, including those accused or convicted of criminal
activity, are entitled to unfettered legal representation. The Basic Principles on the Role
of Lawyers state: Whereas the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights enshrines the principles of equality before
the law, the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair and public
hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, and all the guarantees
necessary for the defense of everyone charged with a penal
offence... 16. Governments
shall ensure that lawyers (a) are able to perform all of their
professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or
improper interference; (b) are 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
recognized professional duties, standards and ethics. In addition, as a human rights
lawyer, Ms. Moskalenko's rights are protected under the 1998 U.N. Declaration
on Human Rights Defenders protects the rights of anyone seeking to defend
human rights. RECOMMENDED ACTION :
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Russian, English or
your own language :
APPEALS TO : Yuri CHAIKA Mr. Vladimir Lukin, Commisioner on Human Rights in,
Russian Federation PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY
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