Democracy increases: lawyers aren't recommended to give interviews without permission

The Minsk City and the Minsk region bars have received the appropriate letters, signed by the head of the national bar, Mr. Chaichyts. Lawyers are recommended to receive the agreement of the heads of their bars before giving any interviews, while deputy heads of the bars are charged with studying the content of such interviews and filing them with the national bar.

According to the letter, the reason is that lawyers sometimes present “distorted information” to mass media. Last year, the presidia of the regional and the Minsk city bars were proposed to provide the participation of lawyers in educational events abroad only on consent of the appropriate presidium. Thus, the lawyers are limited in any kinds of activities, and intimidated in order to prevent them from dealing with politically motivated cases. By the way, a number of lawyers who had defended figurants of the criminal case against participants of the mass protests on 19 December 2011, were subsequently deprived of their licenses.