The Krasnodar Bar Association has prohibited Mikhail Benyash from the practice of law. In October 2022, the Ministry of Justice declared him a foreign agent. The 93.ru media reported the disbarment of Benyash on February 17.
Human rights advocate Mikhail Benyash has been disbarred and can no longer work as a lawyer. This happened after the Ministry of Justice submitted to the Krasnodar Bar Association a proposal to terminate the lawyer’s membership in the organization. Benyash has not yet commented on the Bar’s decision.
The Ministry of Justice declared Mikhail Benyash a foreign agent in October 2022. Later, he was accused of discrediting the army in his telegram posts. Benyash criticized the military actions in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s policies and made pacifist statements. The court fined him 30 thousand rubles ($400). As a lawyer, he represented activists and people detained at protest rallies.
Pressure on “foreign agents” keeps growing. Tver activist Artem Vazhenkov, the former head of the regional branch of Golos, faces up to two years in prison for not marking his social media posts with the foreign agent label. This is the first criminal case of this type in Russia. Vazhenkov currently lives outside Russia.
The first fine for not using the foreign agent label was issued In December 2022 to Maksim Katz. The blogger was fined 15 thousand rubles ($200). He was found guilty of not marking four posts on his Telegram channel and a video on YouTube.
