Ukrainian Lawyers in the United States Support Feygin

Members of the Ukrainian American Bar Association (UABA) supported Nadiya Savchenko’s lawyer, Mark Feygin, who is being inspected by Russia’s Investigative Committee on accusations of extremism.

The UABA Statement in Support of Russian Lawyer Mark Feygin posted on their website states:

The Ukrainian American Bar Association (UABA) is a national bar association created in 1977 whose members are U.S. judges, attorneys and law students of Ukrainian descent and those American attorneys who share the UABA’s goals and dedication to the rule of law.

 It has come to the attention of the UABA that Mark Feygin, a Russian lawyer, is apparently being “criminally” investigated for allegedly posting statements on his Twitter account which purportedly “incite social hatred and enmity”.  In reality, his Twitter comments were merely statements in support of his client, Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who is being unlawfully detained by Russian authorities. 

Ostensibly, the most recent “criminal” investigation of Attorney Feygin has as its motive not only to muzzle his vociferous defense of his clients, but more importantly, to create a chilling effect and to send an ominous signal to all Russian lawyers discouraging them from taking up cases that criticize and challenge the Russian government’s policies and actions that violate internationally accepted human rights norms.

As such, the Russian government’s current “criminal” investigation of Mark Feygin constitutes a gross violation of the basic principles of justice and the rule of law and the right of an attorney to properly defend his client. 

Feygin is also a defender of Mustafa Dzhemilev, the leader of Crimean Tatar people. On October 31st, he filed a lawsuit in the Moscow Basmanny Court to overturn the ban on Dzhemilev’s entry into Russia. Feygin unveiled a document yesterday which shows that the decision to ban his entrance was made by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. The Service noted that a copy of the resolution is missing.