The Investigative Department of the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation decide to deny Mukhtar's Ablyazov lawyer access to his client's case files
On February 25, 2014, the Investigative Department of the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation informed Mark Feygin, counsel for Mukhtar Ablyazov, that a decision has been made to deny him access to his client’s case file, thereby preventing him from exercising his client’s legal defence rights. Mr Ablyazov mandated Feygin as his lawyer in January 2014.
Department spokespersons did not explain the decision, which is clearly contrary to criminal procedure law, under which investigators have no procedural right to deny the accused’s lawyer of choice.
Ablyazov’s defence team plans to appeal the decision in court since, according to Art. 125 of the Russian Criminal Procedural Code, it constitutes a significant breach of the rights of their client under preliminary investigation. The Russian defence also plans to submit filings for the courts and the French authorities to prohibit Ablyazov’s extradition to Russia, where he faces unlawful persecution and torture at the hands of both Russian and Kazakhstani law enforcement.
Ablyazov, a well-known opponent of the authoritarian regime in Kazakhstan, and of Nursultan Nazarbayev himself, has been subjected to a long campaign of persecution as retribution for his democratic views and calls for liberal reforms.
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