Alexei Navalny, the fiercest opponent of Vladimir Putin’s regime of terror in Russia, has suffered poisoning, false imprisonment and torture for exercising his basic right to protest the actions of his government. He is currently scheduled for transfer to a “special security” penal colony where his access to the outside world will be even more limited than it is now. (Navalny has not been able to speak to his family for over a year). Visits from his lawyers are his lifeline both legally and practically.

On Oct. 13, the eve of a court challenge to the transfer, the Russian authorities searched the homes and offices of Navalny’s lawyers—Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin—and arrested them on charges of participating in an “extremist” group. They are presently being held in pre-trial detention.

Along with disbarment, this is one of the tools authoritarian regimes use to dilute the efficacy of opposition figures; they target the lawyers who represent them. It is happening everywhere, including Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Guatemala, Iran and Belarus, to name a few.

Lawyers should not be subject to persecution and reprisals for seeking to ensure the rights of their clients. That is what we are called to do. The Coalition for Endangered Lawyers, an informal network of national and international human rights and legal organizations including the ABA Center for Human Rights, has sounded the alarm, declaring that such repression of lawyers is an existential threat to the rule of law everywhere. We agree.

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