Azat Miftakhov’s defense lawyer was accused of “anti-social behavior” during a visit to the colony

Azat Miftakhov’s defense lawyer was accused of “anti-social behavior” during a visit to the colony

Azat Miftakhov’s lawyer came to see her client at the Polar Owl penal colony to deliver documents and get answers to questions from his wife; previously, she had not been allowed into the colony. After meeting with Miftakhov, the lawyer was stopped by penal colony staff when she was already about to leave. RusNews reports this.

“On my way out, I was stopped by a whole squad of staff and the duty officer, who literally took my folder of documents away from me and, not allowing me to come near him, read through every sheet, after which, having found notes given to me by Miftakhov, as well as pages with my personal notes unrelated to my work with Miftakhov and with other convicts, took them away, saying that a seizure report would be drawn up,” the lawyer wrote in a lawsuit filed with the Labytnangi court, adding that the review and seizure of the documents violates attorney-client privilege.

A few days later, the lawyer came to the penal colony again. This time, at the entrance, she was given an official warning for “anti-social behavior”: staff considered it a violation that she “took correspondence from Miftakhov with the aim of passing it to his wife, bypassing the administration.”

Now, on every visit to the penal colony, the lawyer is made to sign a statement acknowledging the rules.

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Azat Miftakhov / Photo: SOTAvision archive