Page 26 - Report on the infringement of rights and guarantees of attorneys in Ukraine

THREATS AND VERBAL HARASSMENT

Oleksandr Horoshynskyi
attorney of former Berkut officers

On 28 November 2016, Anatolii Matios, the Chief Military Prosecutor said the following,
during the live broadcast on 112 Ukraine TV channel in the Evening Prime programme,
while expressing his dissatisfaction with the fact that the attorney was too active, in his
opinion, in defending "murderers": "I would hit him hard in the mug, so that he would spit
blood." Thus, the high-ranking official demonstrated his true "level" of legal culture, the
neglect of fundamental constitutional guarantees, namely: the right of everyone to
defence, the presumption of innocence, and allowed rough identification of the attorney
with a client. The Ukrainian Bar Association responded promptly in the open appeal
regarding the public statements made by the Deputy-Prosecutor General of Ukraine,
which showed disrespect not only to a certain attorney, but also to the constitutional
defence function .
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Oleg Tatarov
attorney of Vadym Novynskyi, MP of Ukraine
On 6 December 2016, after a meeting of the Committee on Regulation and Organization
of Work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which considered the submission "On the
Consent to Bring Criminal Action Against Vadym Vladyslavovych Novynskyi, Member of
Parliament of Ukraine", Yuriy Lutsenko, the Prosecutor-General of Ukraine, addressing the
attorney, called him "a non-orthodox bitch, pig bitch". This was the reaction of the
Prosecutor-General of Ukraine to the announced attorney’s legal position regarding the
innocence of his client. The open letter to the UNBA written in its name requesting an
immediate apology for such unacceptable behaviour by Yuriy Lutsenko, the
Prosecutor-General of Ukraine, was de facto ignored, and the PGOU (Prosecutor-
General’s Office of Ukraine) sent a letter to the UNBA stating that there were no violations
of the guarantees of legal practice in the emotional statement by the Prosecutor-General.
The Ukrainian Bar Association responded promptly in the open appeal, demanding that
the Prosecutor-General of Ukraine comply with the constitution on ensuring the function of
defence and professional ethics in public statements .
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Oleksandr Lavrenchuk
attorney
According to the media, in December 2017 the attorney was blackmailed in Volyn Region
with a demand to drop complaints about the inflicting of bodily injuries on his client. The
attorney also reported that he was being followed and his phones were being
wiretapped. The attorney said: "I often see SBU department's operative vehicles near my
office, I already recognize the employees. Our phones are wiretapped. The SBU
department's officers are aware immediately of my meetings with clients".

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