Ivan Pavlov (lawyer)

Ivan Y. Pavlov (Иван Юрьевич Павлов, born 1971 in St. Petersburg, Russia) is a Russian lawyer and open government activist. Participated in development of the Russian federal and regional freedom of information legislation. Specializes in protecting the right to access to governmental information in Russia, and defending citizens from ungrounded accusations of disclosing state secrets, high treason, and espionage. Also focuses on raising public awareness regarding the need for modern legislation on state secrets and the use of current legislation as a means of repression.

Biography

In 1997, Pavlov received his J.D. degree from St. Petersburg State University, and was admitted to the Russian defense bar. Pavlov received his Candidate of Law Science degree (Ph.D.) in 2009 from the Institute of State and Law, Russian Academy of Sciences.

From 1998-2004, Ivan Pavlov headed the Environmental Human Rights Center Bellona (St.-Petersburg, Russia).

FOI initiatives

In 2004, Ivan Pavlov founded the Freedom of Information Foundation (FIF).[1] For ten years, FIF rendered legal assistance to citizens and organizations, defending their rights to information access. FIF specialists also audited government bodies' official websites for compliance with actual FOI legislation requirements.

In 2014, FIF was included in the state register of "foreign agent" NGOs. After a series of court hearings when Ivan Pavlov and other lawyers of the FIF contested the "foreign agent" status, the Freedom of Information Foundation formally suspended its activities. However, the work has not ceased. Several ex-FIF staff members, leading by Pavlov, are now joined by Team 29,[2] the only Russian non-governmental initiative performing professional defense of the citizens’ right to freely look for, receive, transmit, produce, and distribute information by legal means. Team 29 is working in a new format for Russia without creating a legal entity – as a free partnership of lawyers, journalists, and civil activists.[3]

High-Profile Cases

Access to Information

In 2005, Ivan Pavlov and other lawyers of the Freedom of Information Foundation filed several legal claims against Russian federal executive government bodies that had not launched official websites of theirs, thus violating the freedom of information law.[4] As a result, by April 2006, nearly all federal executive government bodies launched their official websites.

In 2015 lawyers of the Team 29, lead by Pavlov, prepared a claim against President Putin's Decree classifying information on military personnel losses within special operations in the time of peace.[5] The claim is supported by well-known human rights activists and journalists also realizing that the Decree will help the state authorities to suppress and attempts to cover the situation at the Ukrainian South-East. The applicants argued that Putin had exceeded his powers by classifying information about military losses (Russia’s Constitution clearly states that the constitutional right to freely seek, receive and circulate information can only be restricted by federal law).[6] On August 13, 2015, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has ruled that the Decree is legal.[7] The ruling gives the grounds to apply to the Constitutional Court and force a proper assessment of how information in Russia is classified as state secret.

Defense of Citizens Persecuted by State Security Bodies

Since the end of 1990’s Ivan Pavlov has specialized in cases against the practice of accusation of the disclosure of state secrets as a tool for political repression.

Pavlov defended Alexander Nikitin, an environmentalist accused of high treason for preparing a research report The Northern Fleet: A Potential Radioactive Contamination Threat for the Region.

Pavlov also served as a legal attorney for Grigory Pasko, a military journalist accused of espionage in favor of Japan for his publications on radiation safety issues. Though usually such an accusation leads to long imprisonment, Pasko was convicted only for two points of accusation (from sixty) for four years of prison and later released on parole.

In 2013, Pavlov achieved termination of the criminal case against Igor Y. Baranov, Professor of the Baltic State Technical University (St. Petersburg) who was accused of attempting to depart the country (cross the Russian border) with "materials that could be used for production of weapons of mass destruction" (the "material" was his printed research report to be presented as an international scientific conference).[8]

In 2015, Pavlov defended Svetlana Davydova, a mother of seven children, accused of high treason because of a phone call placed to the Ukrainian Embassy. The expertise has shown that information Davydova had provided to the Ukrainian Embassy had comprised no state secrets, and the criminal case against her was terminated for absence of crime.[9]

Pavlov also successfully argued for the termination of criminal persecution against Anna A. Sharogradskaya, head of the Regional Press Institute, another NGO pressured under the "foreign agent NGO" law.[10] 73 years old Sharogradskaya was accused of extremism.[11]

A criminal case against Sergey Minakov, a member of the Koyda seagoing tanker crew, accused of espionage and defended by Pavlov, has also been terminated for absence of crime.[12]

The Suprun Case

Ivan Pavlov defended Mikhail Suprun, a historian accused of privacy abuse in 2009 for preparing a memory book of Soviet political repression victims. In January 2014, the European Court for Human Rights started communicating with the Government of the Russian Federation upon the application from Suprun and Pavlov.

The "Troll Factory" case

In St. Petersburg there is a company[13] whose employees are paid for aggressive pro-governmental posts and comments in the Internet. Lyudmila Savchuk, a former employee of that "troll-factory", sought to disclose its activities and filed a claim in court for labor violations. Ivan Pavlov represented Ms. Savchuk, and the defendant "troll-factory" agreed to pay Savchuk her withheld salaries and to restore her labor rights.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Freedom of Information Foundation". old.svobodainfo.org.
  2. ↑ "Our goals | Team 29". team29.org.
  3. ↑ "Persecuted Russian Lawyer Finds New Ways Around Foreign Agents Label". The Moscow Times.
  4. ↑ "Federal Law "On Providing Access to Information on the Activities of Government Bodies and Bodies of Local Self-Government", No. 8-FZ, February 9, 2009 :: Freedom of Information Foundation". old.svobodainfo.org.
  5. ↑ Moscow, Alec Luhn in. "Vladimir Putin declares all Russian military deaths state secrets". the Guardian.
  6. ↑ "‘The Kremlin gets a monopoly on truth’ | A lawyer sets out to challenge Putin’s decree classifying Russian military deaths". Meduza.
  7. ↑ "Supreme Court upholds Putin’s decree classifying peacetime military deaths". Meduza.
  8. ↑ "FSB against Baltic State Technical University  :: Фонд Свободы Информации". old.svobodainfo.org.
  9. ↑ Moscow, Reuters in. "Russia drops treason charges against Svetlana Davydova". the Guardian.
  10. ↑ "Extremism Probe Into Russian NGO Director Closed After Record Fine Paid | News". The Moscow Times.
  11. ↑ "Media NGO Director Probed for Extremism". Article20.
  12. ↑ "Обвиненный в шпионаже моряк Черноморского флота освобожден из-под стражи — Meduza". Meduza (in Russian).
  13. ↑ Chen, Adrian (2015-06-02). "The Agency". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  14. ↑ Petersburg, Agence France-Presse in St. "Russian 'troll factory' sued for underpayment and labour violations". the Guardian.
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