Krasnodar lawyer Avanesyan has passed away.

Krasnodar lawyer Alexei Avanesyan, who defended activists and journalists in politically motivated trials, has died at the age of 48.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," among the last cases Alexei Avanesyan worked on was the criminal prosecution of a 91-year-old pensioner from the Kuban village of Dinskaya, who was accused of indecent assault by teenage girls. During the identification parade, the teenagers "quickly and looking at the floor, in the presence of their mothers and a psychologist, rattled off memorized and identical phrases," the lawyer reported. He is convinced that no indecent assault took place, and the pensioner also denied the charges.

Alexei Avanesyan's death was reported by his colleague, Yulia Fedotova. According to Fedotova, the lawyer's death was caused by an aneurysm.

Avanesyan led the human rights project "Law 45," through which he provided free legal assistance to his clients, notes the "Word to Defense" project.

Avanesyan worked in human rights for many years, representing the interests of those detained at protests, beaten environmentalists and journalists, as well as musicians IC3PEAK and rapper Husky. In recent years, Avanesyan was engaged in the defense of people persecuted for their pacifist stance, notes "Mediazona"*.

Alexey Avanesyan represented the interests of journalist and blogger Alexander Nozdrinov, convicted of spreading fake news about the army, activist Andrei Vyazov, and Oleg Vazhdaev, convicted of attempting to set fire to a military registration and enlistment office.

Avanesyan also defended, for free, Krasnodar resident Dmitry Baksheev, who was sentenced in 2019 to 12 years and two months in prison after being found guilty of murder and desecration of the body of a deceased woman. On February 17, 2020, it became known that Baksheev died in a Rostov-on-Don prison hospital. Alexey Avanesyan also defended his colleague Mikhail Benyash, who was accused of attacking police officers.

* are listed as foreign agents.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.