15 September 2018, 18:20
Advocates: law enforcers do nothing to investigate beating of Mikhail Benyash
During almost a week after the arrest of lawyer Mikhail Benyash in Krasnodar, the legality for the law enforcers' actions had not been verified, reported advocate Alexei Avanesyan. The dispute, in which some lawyers accuse Mikhail Benyash of violating the lawyer's ethics by participation in the opposition movement, diverts attention from the fact that Mikhail Benyash has been beaten, notes advocate Alexander Popkov.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 9, in Krasnodar, in the course of an unsanctioned march of opponents of the pension reform, dozens of people were detained, including Mikhail Benyash, who reported that he was beaten after detention. The court placed the lawyer under arrest for 14 days and sentenced him to 40 hours of compulsory works.
On September 10, Pavel Chikov, the head of the "Agora" Human Rights Group, posted, in his page on the Facebook, an appeal to the FBA, in which he urged the due state authorities to "efficiently investigate the attack on the lawyer Benyash." As of 12:35 p.m. Moscow time, the appeal in defence of Mikhail Benyash was signed by 374 lawyers from different regions of Russia.
Advocate Alexei Avanesyan has reported that although he filed on the same day a complaint about the unlawful actions of the policemen during the detention of Mikhail Benyash, his complaint has not yet been considered by the Investigating Department for Krasnodar Territory of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).
"I have been just summoned for the questioning today (on September 15). Until now, they have not examined Mikhail Benyash. They have not questioned him, and they have not instituted any criminal proceedings," Aleksei Avanesyan told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
Advocates of the country have expressed different opinions in the discussion concerning the Mikhail Benyash's case, said advocate Alexander Popkov. According to him, some advocates condemn Mikhail Benyash for his participation in the protest movement and believe that in order to take part in protests, he should have removed his advocate powers, and while he has not done that, his only task is to represent the interests of activists. Other advocates demand a thorough investigation into the Mikhail Benyash's beating.
"Those advocates who condemn Mikhail Benyash lead the situation away from the main thing: the fact that the advocate has been beaten. If this is not stopped, then it will become a tradition to beat advocates, unwanted by the authorities," Alexander Popkov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 15, 2018 at 12:37 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Anna Gritsevich Source: CK correspondent
