The council of Daghestan's Chamber of Advocates has addressed an appeal to Interior Minister Major-General Ali Magomedov and Prosecutor-General Andrei Nazarov demanding immunity from police violence and guaranteed access to their defendants.
The appeal, made public on July 29, argues that every attack on a lawyer in connection with his or her professional activities constitutes "a blow against civil society."
Council member Rasul Kadiyev explained that attacks on lawyers, some of them fatal, have increased in recent years, and most remain unsolved. He cited the attack one month ago by police in Khasavyurt on Sapiyat Magomedova, who is still recovering in a Moscow hospital from her injuries.
Kadiyev did not give any estimate of what percentage of all attacks on lawyers are perpetrated by police.
The signatories to the appeal express their gratitude to those journalists and human rights activists who publicize attacks on members of the legal profession.
All three groups figured on the death lists circulated in Makhachkala in the late summer of 2009. Four lawyers were included on that list, but Magomedova was not one of them.
The appeal, made public on July 29, argues that every attack on a lawyer in connection with his or her professional activities constitutes "a blow against civil society."
Council member Rasul Kadiyev explained that attacks on lawyers, some of them fatal, have increased in recent years, and most remain unsolved. He cited the attack one month ago by police in Khasavyurt on Sapiyat Magomedova, who is still recovering in a Moscow hospital from her injuries.
Kadiyev did not give any estimate of what percentage of all attacks on lawyers are perpetrated by police.
The signatories to the appeal express their gratitude to those journalists and human rights activists who publicize attacks on members of the legal profession.
All three groups figured on the death lists circulated in Makhachkala in the late summer of 2009. Four lawyers were included on that list, but Magomedova was not one of them.