Russian law enforcement officials have drafted new regulations to revoke lawyers’ access to their clients at police departments.
Russia’s Federal Chamber of Lawyers warns that current visitation procedures at police stations are already prone to arbitrary restrictions that inhibit defense attorneys’ work. The chamber’s vice president, Sergey Zubkov, recently told the news agency TASS that the Internal Affairs Ministry’s draft order would only worsen matters. Under the new proposal, the authorities could simply bar lawyers from entering police departments to assist clients detained for misdemeanors or held as witnesses.
“This omission of a constitutional guarantee and the mechanism for its implementation will inevitably lead to violations of the rights of both lawyers and their clients,” Zubkov said.
The draft order also enumerates the MVD’s first list of items prohibited inside police stations. The list includes weapons, explosives, and other dangerous substances, as well as “specialized technical devices for unauthorized information gathering.”