Mobilization of advocates in court: UNBA records another case of pressure

The Ukrainian advocacy has once again faced extrajudicial influence on advocates with the aim of obstructing the exercise of their legitimate powers related to the provision of professional legal assistance to clients.

On May 29, 2025, at around 6:40 p.m., an advocate called the «hotline» of the Committee for the Protection of Advocates' Rights and Guarantees of Advocacy of the National Bar Association and reported that police officers intended to carry out a forceful mobilization directly in the courtroom.

The incident occurred during the consideration of the prosecution's motion to extend the detention in custody in the Podilsky District Court of Kyiv. According to two advocates who participated in the hearing, the prosecutor, who was the procedural opponent in the case, called the police to the court. The police were interested exclusively in the military registration documents of the defenders.

It is noteworthy that law enforcement officers arrived at the Podilsky District Court during the hearing and attempted to detain the defense lawyers to take them to the territorial recruitment center. The advocates regarded this as extra-procedural pressure aimed at obstructing the defense.

Representatives of the UNBA Committee promptly arrived at the scene: Oleksandr Levadnyi, Polina Marchenko, Oleksandr Plavan, Maksym Stryhun, and Oleksii Kalinichenko. Their intervention prevented the violent mobilization of the advocates.

The UNBA Committee emphasized that such actions, regardless of their formal nature, are a manifestation of pressure on lawyers and may be regarded as interference in their professional activities.

If the prosecution does not like the position of an advocate, it resorts to pressure, including through territorial recruitment and social support centers.

Physical pressure, accusations of treason, mobilization — all of this can be a reaction by the authorities to active defense. Read more about this in the article «Some TCCs have become territories without lawyers».