Vocation to Defend Man

As a rule, the broad public know little about the work of a lawyer. A person asks for the help of a lawyer only on special occasions, for example, when seeking legal advice or for defense in court. The opinion also prevails that a lawyer is needed only formally. But this is absolutely wrong! Our society does not want to see a single innocent person tried or convicted. It is professional duty of a lawyer to help the investigators and the court reveal the circumstances which could acquit the defendant, or mitigate his guilt, and also not to let mistakes happen during the investigation and at the trial.

Unfortunately, the concept is still widespread that defense in a criminal case tends to make it more difficult to combat crime, and this is even supported by some lawyers, strange as it may seem. But it does not hold true. A good, skilled lawyer can do a lot.

For example, the work, done by lawyer N. Ilyina on the case of citizen T., convicted by the District Court of Krasnoyarsk to ten years imprisonment is a good confirmation of it. The defendant was found guilty of murdering his lover. The Krasnoyarsk Territorial Court let the sentence stand. However, after analyzing the case, the lawyer compiled a detailed complaint in which she expressed the belief that an innocent man had been convicted and that S. and K., who took part in the trial as witnesses for the prosecution, were the murderers.

After that, lawyer N. Ilyina had to prove that she was right. A member and the Vice-Chairman of the RF. Supreme Court refused to protest the sentence. Soon afterwards new circumstances of the investigation was resumed. However, some time later the investigators deemed the circumstances to be inadequate for rescinding the sentence. The lawyer then filed a complaint with the Vice-Procurator of the RSFSR, and again met with a refusal. The case was reconsidered only after she applied to the RF. Procurator’s Office, and the Procurator-General, agreeing with the lawyer’s arguments, filed a protest at the Krasnoyarsk Territorial Court and demanded that the sentence be annulled and the case reinvestigated.

The former witnesses were now in the dock and pleaded guilty of committing the murder. Citizen T., thanks to the lawyer’s persistence, was released.

Much is being said and written now about the need for the defense lawyer to take part in the investigation from its very beginning as the chief guarantee against violations of legality. True, it is necessary to pass a law on the extension of the defense counsel’s rights at the preliminary investigation stage. However, unfortunately, there is as yet no practical decision on this question.

The lawyer’s participation in all the investigation activities and his or her acquaintance with all the materials in the case, exclude violations.

But the lawyer must enjoy adequate rights and guarantees of his independence against unscrupulous investigators. This, of course gives the rise to the question of whether this would complicate the activities of law enforcement organs in combatting crime.

The experience of lawyers abroad, who generally participate in criminal cases from the earliest stages of the investigation, testifies that this does not present any insurmountable problems in combatting crime. A lawyer is no hindrance to a skilled investigator.