The department stated that Pavlov collaborated with a foreign organization, which was later recognized as undesirable, and received money from foreign sources. According to the Ministry of Justice, he conducted political activities in Russia on them
Ivan Pavlov
The Ministry of Justice has sent to the St. Petersburg Chamber of Advocates a submission on the deprivation of lawyer Ivan Pavlov of his status. In a document provided to RBC by Pavlov’s assistants, the agency justified its decision by the fact that Pavlov and his structures receive money from abroad and conduct political activities in Russia.
What does the Ministry of Justice accuse lawyer Ivan Pavlov of
The Agency points out that Pavlov is the first honorary president of the Czech non-governmental organization (NGO) “Freedom of Information Society” (recognized as undesirable in Russia by the decision of the Ministry of Justice). Since 2015, the Czech NGO has received money from foreign foundations, such as the National Endowment for Democracy (USA), the Open Society Institute, the Assistance Fund (established by George Soros), the Man in Trouble (Czech Republic) (all of them are considered undesirable in Russia), the document says.
The money received was transferred to the “Freedom of Information Society” as a fee for the provision of paid legal services, and then sent to the account of the St. Petersburg International Bar Association. From there, the funds were transferred to the members of the board, as well as to the settlement account of LLC “IRSI”, it follows from the submission of the Ministry of Justice.
LLC “IRSI” was established in 2008, the founder is Pavlov. Since 2015, the association of lawyers and lawyers “Team 29”, also created by Pavlov, has been working in his office, according to the Ministry of Justice. The agency also notes that a sign is attached to the door of the IRSI office “Reception of lawyer Pavlov I.Yu.”.
In addition, in June 2021, Pavlov’s account received money from the St. Petersburg Bar Association, which, in turn, were “directly received from foreign sources” in the period from January to May 2021, the document says.
The Ministry of Justice claims that Pavlov uses a Czech NGO and a Russian commercial company, as well as his status as a lawyer, in order to legalize foreign financing.
The agency also cites several articles published by the “29 Team”, in which, according to the Ministry of Justice, referring to experts, signs of political activity are seen. «The activities of LLC «IRSI» and the public association «Team 29 » are political and aimed at discrediting the country’s leadership and its policies, forming public opinion about the insolvency of the current authorities »,— the agency concluded.
In addition, the Ministry of Justice accuses Pavlov of violating the law regulating advocacy: the lawyer allegedly did not appear to participate in investigative actions, tried to put pressure on the investigation “by unilaterally submitting information” to the media, and also, without the permission of the investigator, tried to “secretly extract” information about employees who participated in the forensic examination from materials containing state secrets with the stamp “top secret”.
Based on these accusations, the Ministry of Justice asked the St. Petersburg Bar Association to deprive Pavlov of his lawyer status.
RBC sent a request to the Ministry of Justice.
What does Pavlov answer to the accusations
In his Telegram channel, Pavlov linked the requirement of the Ministry of Justice with his professional activity. “It’s no secret that I am being persecuted solely for my professional activities. Even those colleagues who largely disagreed with me in their views on the development of our corporation understand that this is an attack not so much on me personally as on our professional community and on freedom of speech,” he wrote.
The lawyer also published his explanations on the claims of the Ministry of Justice. In them, in particular, he confirms that he collaborated with the Czech NGO “Freedom of Information Society”, however, he points out that he was president from February 2015 to December 2016, and also that this post is not related to the management of the organization. According to Pavlov, the position of president assumes only advisory functions. From 2016 to 2020, the lawyer provided legal services to a Czech NGO, but then stopped doing so. The Freedom of Information Society was recognized as an undesirable organization only in July 2021.
Pavlov also stated that the data on the receipt of funds to his account from the bar association, which she, in turn, received from foreign sources, do not correspond to reality. “In 2021, there were no foreign legal entities or individuals among my principals, as well as there were no payments from abroad for the legal assistance I provided,” he wrote.
Pavlov also denied violations of the legislation regulating advocacy.
Now he is under investigation as part of a criminal case under the article on disclosure of preliminary investigation data (Article 310 of the Criminal Code). The lawyer was detained at the end of April, after that he was searched. As Pavlov explained, the investigation takes into account two episodes: when he handed over to the newspaper “Vedomosti” a resolution on the involvement of journalist Ivan Safronov, whose interests he represents in court, as an accused, and also when he reported that the testimony of a secret witness under the pseudonym Lander appeared in the case.
Pavlov believes that the criminal prosecution is revenge on the part of the FSB for his “principled position” on a number of criminal cases.
In July, the legal association “Team 29” ceased its activities. This happened after Roskomnadzor blocked his website. In a statement, the association said that the next step could be the criminal prosecution of members of the “Team 29” and its supporters. “In these conditionsthe continuation of the activities of “Team 29″ creates a direct and obvious threat to the safety of a large number of people, and we cannot ignore this risk,” explained there. In early September, Pavlov left Russia, calling this decision forced.
Subscribe to YouTube RBC Live broadcasts, videos and recordings of broadcasts on our YouTube channel