Every year, the issue of protection of the rights of lawyers and guarantees of lawyer activity becomes more and more urgent. Violations against lawyers are not decreasing, as evidenced by statistics. Thus, in 2021, there were 391 cases of arrests and searches of lawyers in Ukraine, of which 122 cases concerned lawyers from the Kyiv region.
The Bar Council of the Kyiv region was one of the first to understand that the salvation of lawyers is the work of the lawyers themselves, and created a model Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Lawyers, which for almost 9 years faithfully stood up for our colleagues. Moreover, the activities of the RAKO Committee became a model for the creation of a similar committee at the level of the entire National Association of Lawyers of Ukraine. Yes, and other regions also agreed that they tried to reproduce in their Councils of Advocates all the regulatory and organizational points developed in the Kyiv region.
In the end, out of three verdicts in cases involving the commission of crimes against lawyers, two managed to be brought to a logical conclusion precisely because of the constant control over them by the members of the Committee and the personal control of the Chairman of the Bar Council of the Kyiv region.
However, it was the popularity of the Committee that played a cruel joke on him. Currently, 69 people are counted among the members of the Committee (and there were times when there were significantly more than 70), but no more than 30 people actively go on searches. And besides, usually the same lawyers take part in the trips, which is easy to follow in the publications on the Facebook page of the Committee. The fact that some lawyers were excluded from the Committee because of their "uselessness", although they wanted and could work to protect their colleagues, although perhaps in a different form, does not make the situation better. The human factor is also important. In recent years, only the head of the committee has picked up the telephone of the "hotline". This is responsible, but no one has yet canceled sick leave or force majeure.
Potentially, all this together can lead to a deterioration in the effectiveness of work in the direction of protecting the rights of lawyers, which became the subject of discussion at the meeting of the Council of Lawyers of the Kyiv region on February 10, 2022.
As a result of the discussion of all proposals and the analysis of the situation, a decision was made to reorganize the Committee for the Protection of Professional Rights of Lawyers and Guarantees of Advocacy into two Committees.
The Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Lawyers of the Bar Council of the Kyiv Region will be entrusted with the authority to process statements regarding the violation of the rights of lawyers of the Kyiv Region and to prepare relevant appeals to state authorities, including law enforcement agencies, courts, local self-government bodies, legal entities, their officials and officials. , to other natural persons, public associations in the manner prescribed by the current legislation of Ukraine; representation of the interests of lawyers against whom a crime has been committed in court cases; detection, accounting, systematization and analysis of cases of violation of the rights of lawyers who have a workplace and/or carry out their activities in the Kyiv region and whose information is included in the Unified Register of Lawyers of Ukraine.
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The Committee for the Protection of the Guarantees of Advocacy of the Bar Council of the Kyiv Region will assume the function of representing the Bar Council of the Kyiv Region when conducting investigative actions and applying measures to ensure criminal proceedings, in legal proceedings in criminal proceedings against lawyers in the cases provided for in Article 23 of the Law of Ukraine "On Advocacy and Advocacy activity".
The decision to reorganize the Committee for the Protection of Professional Rights and the Implementation of Guarantees of Advocacy of the Bar Council of the Kyiv Region will lead to a clear division of spheres of responsibility and will ensure an effective response to illegal actions directed against a lawyer, an improvement in the level of protection of lawyers and the protection of guarantees of advocacy.
The Council also adopted the following decisions:
- To recognize as invalid from 10.02.2022 the Regulation on the Committee for the Protection of Professional Rights and the Implementation of Guarantees of Advocacy of the Bar Council of the Kyiv Region;
- Oblige all members of the Committee to hand over to the Head of the Secretariat of the Kyiv Region Bar Council Movchan Tetyana Pavlivna the official certificates of the members of the Committee within 5 working days;
- Oblige Naum Vitaly Mykolayovych within 5 working days to hand over to Tetyana Pavlivna Movchan, Head of the Secretariat of the Bar Council of the Kyiv Region: a SIM card with the phone number of the "hotline" of the Committee for the Protection of Professional Rights and the Implementation of Guarantees of Advocacy of the Bar Council of the Kyiv Region; property, which the Committee for the Protection of Professional Rights and Implementation of Guarantees of Advocacy of the Kyiv Region Bar Council was provided by the Kyiv Region Bar Council; all available documents related to the activities of the Committee for the Protection of Professional Rights and Implementation of Guarantees of Advocacy of the Kyiv Region Bar Council; access rights to the page in the social of the Facebook network "Committee for the Protection of Professional Rights of Lawyers and Implementation of Guarantees of Advocacy of the Bar Council of the Kyiv Region".
Andriy Vitaliyovych Hrubskyi was elected the head of the Committee for the Protection of Lawyers' Rights of the Kyiv Region Bar Council.
Leonid Mykolayovych Sivakov was elected as the head of the Committee for the Protection of Guarantees of Advocacy of the Kyiv Region Bar Council.
Regarding prompt response in the case of searches of lawyers, we ask that you temporarily contact the Chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Guarantees of Lawyers' Activities of the Kyiv Region Bar Council Leonid Sivakov ( +380503304486 ).