62 searches of attorneys took place in the third quarter, most of them - in the Kyiv region

As was indicated by the statistical report of the UNBA for the third quarter, 62 authorized searches of attorneys took place in Ukraine in July-September 2020, 18 of them were in the Kyiv region.

There were 17 notifications of detention and searches of attorneys recorded in Kyiv; 15 - in the Odesa region.

During this period the Regional Bar Councils conducted 95 searches and detentions of attorneys. The majority of them took place in the Kyiv region (36 times), in second place is the Odesa region (23), and then goes to Kyiv City (19). However, during July-September another 33 searches and detentions of attorneys took place. They were conducted without notifying the Regional Bar Councils, which violates the Law of Ukraine «On the Bar and Legal Practice». Most of such cases took place in the Kyiv region (18) and Odesa (8).

Also, the negative statistics are observed during this period in the Kharkiv region, where 5 searches and detentions without notification of the Regional Council took place.

Statistic for the third quarter shows a high level of ignorance of attorneys' requests. In general, there were 544 cases of denial to answer the attorneys` requests within the state. According to Article 24 of Law of Ukraine «On the Bar and Legal Practice», public authorities, local governments, their officials, heads of enterprises, institutions, organizations, public associations, which receives an attorney request, is obliged to provide an attorney with relevant information, copies of documents, except for the information with limited access and copies of documents containing information with limited access no later than five working days from the date of receipt of the request. Refusal to provide information at the request of the attorney, undue or incomplete provision of information, provision of information that does not correspond to reality, entails liability established by law. The only exception is for refusal to provide information with limited access.

Lawyers of the Lviv region most often face such a violation - there are 133 claims received by the Regional Bar Council concerning non-provision of the information. The Bar Council of Kyiv region received 127 claims for non-provision of information to the attorney, and The Kyiv Bar Council received 89 claims. In general, all Regional Bar Councils received such claims from attorneys. One exception is Luhansk, where this indicator is zero in the third quarter.

During this period, the Regional Bar Councils issued 133 protocols on administrative offenses concerning refusal to provide information at the request of attorneys. The largest number of such protocols were issued by the Bar Council of Kyiv region - 47, and of Odesa region - 31.

In the third quarter, 43 attorneys applied directly to the Regional Bar Council to protect their professional rights. The Bar Council of Kyiv region received 14 claims, the Bar Council of Donetsk region received 13 of them. The Bar Council of Ukraine received 25 such claims, which were sent to the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Attorneys of the UNBA. 9 claims were sent to the law enforcement agencies.