In Russia, Prosecutors Target Defense Attorneys

"A state agency by definition cannot control and monitor the work of the bar because the lawyers' main job is to protect clients from the state and the state bodies of prosecution," Makarov continued. He said the independence of the bar was something the Kremlin should be proud of.

Even though the legislation has not been passed, police and prosecutors are increasingly demanding that attorneys submit to questioning about their clients, and are then using that as a justification for forcing them off cases.

Another attorney for Khakimov, the car dealer, was cut from the case after he was detained for questioning while waiting to speak to his client at the Yekaterinburg detention center. The Federal Bar Chamber has detailed similar cases in Moscow and in the Rostov-on-Don, Khabarovsk and Kirov regions.

Across the country, authorities have raided law offices, searched lawyers and seized documents, according to the bar chamber. Investigators have secretly recorded deliberations between lawyers, clients and witnesses in criminal cases, the chamber alleges.

"There is an attitude of contempt for the work of defense lawyers," said Yuri Kostanov, a member of the Independent Council of Legal Experts and the commission that qualifies and disciplines lawyers. "It seems like the state wants to force the bar to its knees."

Pressure on defense attorneys was especially intense and public in the state's judicial assault on Yukos Oil Co. and its founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in June on tax evasion and fraud charges.

In October 2003, authorities raided the offices of Khodorkovsky's lead attorney, Anton Drel, and seized documents. Prison officials have searched lawyers visiting Khodorkovsky and confiscated documents from them.

Bar officials cite other cases: The law offices of Yustina, another Moscow firm, were raided in December 2004. Similar raids were conducted in 2004 in the cities of Voronezh, south of Moscow, and Tyumen in Siberia. In Tyumen, the apartments of attorneys and the offices of the local bar association were also searched. Police seized case-related materials, phone books and the personal files of lawyers.

Zayets, a longtime criminal defense lawyer, has a reputation for blowing holes in prosecution cases, according to Igor V. Mikhailovich, head of the local bar association. "She is a brilliant lawyer with 30 years of experience," Mikhailovich said. "As far as I know, the charges are very weak and the prosecutors are not very efficient and are unable to prove their charges with legitimate tools. I think their ultimate goal was to neutralize lawyers who are very effective."

Backed by the bar chamber and human rights groups, Zayets is appealing her removal from the case. She is arguing that the maneuver to separate her from her client was illegal and violated the principle of attorney-client privilege, which is enshrined in Russian law. Zayets said she refused to answer investigators' questions.

The prosecutor's office said it wasn't prepared to comment on the case.

A local district court rejected Zayets's motions to be reinstated. A higher-level appeal is now pending. Khakimov, meanwhile, is working with another set of attorneys.

"My husband wants to be defended by his lawyer, by Svetlana," said Natalya Sibiryakova, Khakimov's wife. "If we have a rule-of-law state, that should be his right."

Zayets said she feared that even if she won her appeals, the rulings might not come in time for her to defend Khakimov.

"If prosecutors can question a lawyer about her legal work for a client, then there is not only no attorney-client privilege, there is no bar," Zayets said. "There is only the state. I'm afraid that that's what some people want."