Russia: Moscow coldens Navalny’s criminal defense

• OfStefan Scholl

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The legal NGO “Komanda 29” has to end its work under pressure. Ivan Pavlov, head of the organization, is no longer even allowed to make phone calls.

Moscow – Between the piles of files in the lawyers’ open plan office, the grimly staring boxing dummy with the pirate hat on his head is still standing. But the move of “Komanda 29” from 33A Voronezhskaya Street in Saint Petersburg has already begun. On Sunday, the almost 30-strong team of lawyers and journalists as well as members of the press disbanded. The first members of what is perhaps the most important Russian legal protection group are also leaving under pressure from state power.

On Monday, a Moscow court also upheld the ban on Ivan Pavlov, the head of the team, from using the Internet and the phone, which makes his legal work very difficult. He himself does not want to leave Russia if possible: “I do my job, I do not break any law, I defend people against the worst charges in this country,” he recently told the Frankfurter Rundschau. “I don’t plan to run away.”

The hustle and bustle against “Komanda 29” began in April with house searches near Pavlov, and criminal proceedings were opened against him on the charge that he had unlawfully published investigative data in a private treason trial. Pavlov says the investigators are looking for more incriminating material against him, and FSB officials have repeatedly threatened to put him behind bars.

State television assigns “Komanda 29” links to “anti-Russian projects”

State power apparently wants to smash Komanda 29. At the end of June it declared the Czech NGO “Spolecnost Svobody Informace” an “undesirable organization”, and state television promptly imputed “Komanda 29” with close ties to Spolecnost and “anti-Russian projects”.

Last Friday, the Roskomnadzor censorship agency blocked the group’s website for allegedly publishing texts by Czechs. Pavlov denies this. But in mid-June the law on “Cooperation with Unwanted Organizations” was tightened, Pavlov and his people face six years in prison and the numerous citizens who financially supported “Komanda 29” five years. To prevent criminal proceedings, the group discontinued the project.

Russia: Aid to Navalny is the main reason for repression

Pavlov, 50, and his colleagues have been defending people who have been accused of betraying state secrets for decades – delicate cases because mostly investigators from the FSB domestic intelligence service are involved. But in opposition circles the main reason for the state stranglehold is that “Komanda 29” also represents Alexei Navalny’s structures legally, which were banned as “extremist” in June in the first instance.

Before that, “Komanda 29” had achieved considerable success in court. It is relatively pointless to accuse the authorities of brutal human rights violations, says Pavlov. His team, which also includes several media representatives, has therefore repeatedly launched press campaigns against weird judgments. “If you can make the people laugh at the state power, it sometimes gives in.”

So she let go of several women from Sochi who had already been convicted of treason. In 2008 you had informed friends via SMS that trains with military equipment were heading for the Georgian border. A state secret that every housewife in Sochi could watch, Vladimir Putin was raised about it at a press conference, the women were released.

Russia: The fun stopped with Navalny’s organizations

But at the latest at Nawalny’s organizations, the fun stopped. Pavlov knows that it is risky to constantly oppose state power loudly. But he doesn’t want to give up for fear of jail. “Thinking about it only disturbs the work.” His fellow lawyers are also staying in the country for the time being in order to continue the ongoing cases as an independent defense.

Pavlov knew even before he went to law school that he wanted to be a criminal defense attorney. “Even in school I often fought to defend the weak against the strong, and got a lot on the nose in the process.” He is a defender by nature. And the team is hoping for a new start, like in 2014. At that time, the foundation that Pavlov headed was declared a “foreign agent”, shut down and started all over again as “Komanda 29”. (Stefan Scholl)

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