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.