A case was opened against an activist who called for checking advocates through clients

The Shevchenkivskyi Police Department of the Main Department of the National Police in Kyiv registered in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations information about interference with the activities of a defense counsel (Article 397 of the Criminal Code) on the facts of Iryna Fedoriv publication of articles about the activities of advocate Rostyslav Kravets.

The criminal proceeding №12025105100000394 was registered on March 13. An extract from the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations was posted on his Telegram page by R. Kravets himself.

«It is clear from the case file that on August 21, 2024, a person named Fedoriv Iryna Pavlivna published a post on her Facebook page, as well as on the page of the GOLKA public organization, about the advocacy of Kravets R.Y., thus interfering with his advocacy», - the document says.

Obviously, this is a post in which the woman violates the prohibition on identifying a lawyer with a client and calls for attention to those lawyers «who systematically and independently choose their own «cotton wool» clients and desperately defend them in court». And in the author's publication on the website GOLKA (I. Fedoriv is the head of this public organization), he refers to «lawyers who systematically represent in court the interests of traitors, «Maidan judges» and other pests of statehood».

As a reminder, under Part 1 of Art. 397 of the Criminal Code, any form of obstruction of the lawful activities of a defense counsel or representative of a person in providing legal aid or violation of the guarantees of their activities and professional secrecy established by law is punishable by a fine of one hundred to two hundred tax-free minimum incomes, or correctional labor for up to two years, or probationary supervision for up to three years, or restraint of liberty for the same term.

Photo for illustration taken from I. Fedoriv's Facebook page.