On April 18, JustTalk, in collaboration with Nazar Kulchytskyy and Partners Law Firm, organized a live and online discussion titled “Lawyers in TOT: legalization of occupying power or protection of Ukrainian citizens?”
The activities of Ukrainian lawyers in Temporarily Occupied Territories (TOT) are not regulated, and there is no liability for conducting such activities. However, there still needs to be an official centralized position on behalf of the state or the bar association. JustTalk has extensively covered the issue.
The discussion featured:
- ● Mrs. Daria Svyrydova, lawyer and partner at AZONES, expert at Ukraine 5 AM Coalition,
- ● Mrs. Tetiana Pechonchyk, Head of the Board of the Human Rights Center ZMINA,
- ● Mr. Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the International Bar Association.
Mr. Nazar Kulchytskyy, founder of Nazar Kulchytskyy & Partners Law Firm, shared his thoughts on the status and activities of lawyers in the occupied territories during the joint discussion with #JustTalk, part of @JustGroup.
He highlighted three important points:
- “We constantly hear about the impossibility of holding collaborating lawyers accountable due to insufficient mechanisms. We’ve been at war for ten years, and during all this time, no changes have been made to the Law on Advocacy or the rules of legal ethics to change the situation.
- I understand what to do with collaborating lawyers who cooperate with the occupying authorities and harm people. They should be held criminally responsible. At the same time, we need to protect, as much as possible, lawyers who defend our citizens from repression.
- But most lawyers there have accepted Russian citizenship, taken the oath of a Russian lawyer, and tried not to advertise their connections with local collaborators. And they do not defend people from repression. Advocacy should determine what to do with this category and make these changes now so there are no discussions later about the lack of prohibitions or restrictions at the time of the events.
Thanks to #JustTalk for cooperating and giving us the occasion to meet!
USAID Ukraine made the event possible through the “Human Rights in Action” project implemented by the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union.