Tatiana Stetsura deprived of lawyer's status

Tatiana Stetsura, who is accused, together with journalist Natalia Nizovkina, of extremism in connection with their article about deportation of Chechens and Ingushes, has been deprived of the status of layer for non-participation in any advocates' formation and non-payment of fees to the Bar Association of Buryatia.

"In accordance with the Charter of the Bar Association of the Republic of Buryatia, adopted in accordance with the law, a failure to pay, for 3 months or more, the mandatory deductions may entail termination of the lawyer's status," a member of the Bar Board has explained. She refused to introduce herself, saying that she was not specially "mandated by the Bar Association to comment on the decisions made by the Bar Board."

As earlier reported by the "Caucasian Knot", on January 11, the city of Ulan-Ude hosted a court session on the case of journalists Nadezhda Nizovkina and Tatiana Stetsura, accused under Article 282 of the Criminal Code. The ladies rejected advocates and defend them themselves; they refuse to plead guilty.

On the following day, January 12, the judge interrupted the session to clarify the status of Tatiana Stetsura: whether she is a lawyer and has the right to run the case of them both at the court. Papers were presented to the court from the Bar stating that Ms Stetsura was deprived of the lawyer's status.

Under the current legislation, the article under which Stetsura and Nizovkina are accused is not among the crimes, where an advocate is mandatory at the trial; thus, they may go on with their self-defence.

Alexander Maisuryan, an activist of the "Democratic Union" and a supporter of Stetsura and Nizovkina, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Russian opposition should voice support to the defendants, as, in his opinion, application of Article 282 of the Criminal Code against them is a danger for the entire opposition in the country.

Elena Maglevannaya, a journalist and rights defender, who wrote about torture of prisoners from Northern Caucasus in Russian prisons and who received late last year her political asylum in Finland, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the case of Nizovkina and Stetsura is the all-Russian trend.

"This is not the first case on 'extremism'. Earlier, there were also cases of Boris Stomakhin (sentenced to 5 years for an article, still in custody), National Bolshevik Alexei Nikiforov (sentenced to one year of imprisonment), blogger Eugenia Savelieva (received conditional imprisonment), etc. The case of Nizovkina and Stetsura is original mainly because its aim is to purposefully fight against the 'extremist' Article 282 and the emphatic refusal to play under the rules of the authorities," Ms Maglevannaya said.