Moscow City Bar Association Condemns the Persecution of the Hermitage Fund Lawyers Who Had Exposed Corruption, Calls Upon General Prosecutor to Open a Criminal Case Against Responsible Officials

July 5, 2010

The Moscow City Bar Association has condemned the systematic persecution of Russian lawyers of the Hermitage Fund who had reported state officials involved in the theft of $230 million of budget funds and has called upon the Russian General Prosecutor Yuri Chaika to open a criminal case against those officials. The petition is signed by Genri Reznik, head of the Moscow City Bar Association, and Robert Zinoviev, Head of the Commission for the Support of the Professional and Social Rights of Lawyers (see text in Russian at: http://www.advokatymoscow.ru/legal_regulation/apm_dokuments/zashita_advokatov_doc/hayretdinov/to_chayka.php).

The Moscow City Bar Association in particular has called the attention of the Russian General Prosecutor to the “criminal actions by Artem Kuznetsov, an employee of the Tax Crimes Department of the Moscow Branch of the Interior Ministry, who appears to have been complicit in the perpetration of the criminal scheme to embezzle 5.4 billion rubles [$230 million] of budget funds and, despite this, was chosen to provide operational support into the investigation of the crime.”

The Moscow City Bar Association has also condemned actions by Investigator Gordievsky from the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor’s Office who unlawfully prosecuted the Moscow lawyers representing the Hermitage Fund, Eduard Khairetdinov and Vladimir Pastukhov, immediately after they reported the role of officials in the theft of $230 million of budget funds. Messrs Reznik and Zinoviev exposed the spurious grounds used by this official to intimidate the lawyers with criminal prosecution.

The Moscow City Bar Association has highlighted unlawful actions against lawyers by another official, Investigator Oleg Silchenko of the Investigative Committee of the Interior Ministry. Messrs Reznik and Zinoviev describe how he “used dirty and illegal methods to obstruct the lawyers’ work” in an attempt to intimidate another Hermitage lawyer, Alexander Antipov. Investigator Silchenko had tried to disbar Mr Antipov on an apparent false ground. Messrs Reznik and Zinoviev state that Investigator Silchenko’s actions were intended to “obstruct the lawyer’s professional activity” and constituted crimes under the Russian Criminal Code, including “fraud in office” and “falsification of evidence.”

In its petition to Chaika, the Moscow City Bar Association has reiterated its firm support for “our colleagues who had the courage to publicly report the facts of the theft by law enforcement officials of over 5.4 billion rubles [$230 million] of budget funds that they uncovered in the course of providing legal assistance” to their client, the Hermitage Fund.

Messrs Reznik and Zinoviev remind Mr Chaika that two years ago the Moscow legal community already applied to the General Prosecutor’s Office outlining “the theft of [$230 million in] budget funds,” “the apparent lack of interest in identifying the true perpetrators of the theft and other gross violations of the federal law” by officials from the Interior Ministry and the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor’s Office. The Moscow legal community then demanded “an urgent, principled, actual and effective prosecutorial response.”

Despite this earlier complaint filed by the Moscow legal community, the “perpetrators of the theft of budget funds have remained unpunished, while the lawyers who attempted to report them have been subjected to a criminal prosecution,” say Messrs Reznik and Zinoviev.

In conclusion, the Moscow City Bar Association has requested that General Prosecutor Chaika “organize a thorough and effective probe and take measures in response up to prosecuting the individuals” involved in the theft of budget funds and the illegal attacks on lawyers and others who reported the actions of the corrupt officials to the authorities.

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