OLEG SOPOTSINSKY, MANAGING PARTNER OF RI-CONSULTING LAW OFFICE

The rights of lawyers as individual subjects are not violated when they are removed from the case, the Constitutional Court (CC) decided. Only the suspect or the accused may complain about the actions of the investigation in this way, and the rights and interests of defenders are not affected. This follows from the Constitutional Court's denial ruling in the case of Murmansk attorney Denis Nenashev (Vedomosti has reviewed the document).

Oleg Sopotsinsky for Vedomosti on whether this approach of the CC is already an established practice? Does the expert agree with this identification of the violation of the rights of the lawyer and his principal? And do lawyers still have any opportunities to appeal their violated rights?

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Lawyer's comments: "The position set out in the above decision of the Constitutional Court is quite consistent with the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Law, since, in accordance with the CPC, the lawyer acts as a participant in criminal proceedings as a representative of the accused, the suspect or the defendant. Therefore, in the case of his removal from the case - no matter whether he is involved in this case as a defender by appointment or invited by the suspect, accused or defendant, it must be established that this self-dismissal violates the rights of his principal.

Under such circumstances, and the Constitutional Court explicitly points out in its decision, it is possible for a lawyer who has already been removed from the case to file a complaint against the decision to remove him from the case by the investigator or by the court.  But the obligatory condition for filing such a complaint is an indication of a violation of the rights of the defendant, that is, if suddenly the lawyer brings arguments in the complaint that, for example, this removal has led to the inability to receive fees, or otherwise violated his rights and, without pointing to the specific violations of the rights of his principal, then, in this case, this complaint inevitably must be considered only filed in the interests of the lawyer himself. But not his client and, of course, which is fully justified, such complaint should not be accepted and considered.  Again, if this exclusion from participation in the case directly entails a violation of the rights of the Client, then such a complaint has every right to be accepted and considered in the prescribed manner, in fact, the CC in its decision pointed to this. That is, the highest judicial authority proceeds from the presumption, the paradigm of the need to protect the rights of the person involved in criminal proceedings, but not in violation of the rights of his lawyer, because he acts as a participant in criminal proceedings as a representative of his client", - said the expert.