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MOSCOW - Viktor Parshutkin knows the occupational hazards of being a Russian defence lawyer - long hours, stress and the risk of imprisonment in a jail so overcrowded the inmates have to sleep in shifts.
Parshutkin, 47, was held for three years in Moscow's notorious Butyrka prison while he awaited trial on charges - eventually dropped - linked to a case in which he was defending a couple against the Russian adoption authorities.
He and fellow lawyers allege that not only does the Russian state manipulate the justice system to go after its opponents but it also persecutes lawyers hired to defend those opponents in court.
"Any lawyer who does not cut a deal with the authorities, and defends his client's interests on the basis of the law, will one or another way be subject to persecution," said Parshutkin.
In the latest high-profile case, the state security service has charged Boris Kuznetsov, a lawyer defending an MP from charges of corruption, with disclosing state secrets. The lawyer says he is the victim of an official vendetta and has fled the country.
But that is not an isolated incident. Dozens of others have been subject to criminal prosecution or had to fight off official applications to strip them of their right to practice.
"Lawyers are viewed as fair game," said Robert Amsterdam, who has been barred from entering Russia over his role as part of the legal team for jailed tycoon and Kremlin opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Some of the accusations levelled against Russian lawyers can seem tenuous. Kseniya Kostromina was part of a team defending Khodorkovsky's head of security from murder charges. She and two other lawyers missed a hearing. She had to appear before the Constitutional court and the others were ill. They sent their apologies but a judge applied to have them disbarred.
Lawyers say the practice of targeting lawyers is already having a damaging effect on Russian justice.
"When a lawyer is afraid of unpleasantness, he tones down his defence, he steps back," said Parshutkin. "There are very few lawyers who are prepared to give their clients a worthy defence."
- REUTERS
