The Number of Criminal Cases Against Lawyers in Russia Has Grown More Than One and a Half Times in Five Years

The number of criminal cases against lawyers in Russia has grown more than one and a half times in five years

In 2025, 133 lawyers became defendants in criminal cases in Russia, whereas in 2020 there were 80 defense attorneys, calculated Novaya Gazeta Europe.

In more than half of the reviewed cases, lawyers are accused of fraud. At the same time, in 45% of such cases lawyers are charged only with attempted commission of a crime.

According to calculations by the human rights project Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial, 13 politically motivated criminal cases against lawyers were recorded in 2025, six of them in absentia. Compared with 2023-2024, the number of such persecutions, excluding in absentia cases, grew almost twofold.

One of the most high-profile political cases against lawyers is the sentence handed down to Alexei Navalny's attorneys Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser, and Igor Sergunin. For passing Navalny's letters and messages from prison colony to his associates, the lawyers received real prison terms ranging from 3.5 to 5 years. The court deemed their actions participation in an extremist community. At the same time, the prosecution was largely based on wiretapped conversations between the lawyers and their client, which are protected by attorney-client privilege.

There are also milder mechanisms of pressure on lawyers: in 2024, compared with 2021, they were stripped of their lawyer status 42% more often. The number of disciplinary cases during this time rose by 12%.

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