Court refuses to consider the arrest case of former advocate of Kalmykian ex-senator

On April 28, the Zamoskvoretskiy Court of Moscow returned to the Investigatory Department for Moscow of the RF's ICPO the petition on arrest in absentia of advocate Boris Kuznetsov, accused of disclosing state secrets. Earlier, Mr Kuznetsov had presented the interests of Levon Chakhmakhchyan, ex-senator from Kalmykia, convicted to nine years of imprisonment.

Judge Irina Ivanova could not hold a session, since the documents presented by the inquiry in support of the petition were classified as "Secret". "Meanwhile, regional courts have no the so-called 'secret office management'," said advocate Ruslan Koblev who is representing Boris Kuznetsov's interests. According to his version, the petition on Kuznetsov's arrest in absentia was returned for appropriate drawing up.

"Now, the inspectors should either declassify the materials or apply to the Moscow City Court for the arrest, where they have a special unit dealing with 'Secret' cases," said Mr Koblev about possible alternatives and noted: "If they declassify the materials, it'll turn out that there was no secret in Boris Kuznetsov's actions."

Mr Koblev has noted that under the investigation's ruling even the decision to attract Boris Kuznetsov as a defendant was classified as secret. The advocates were forbidden to make a copy, as the "Gzt.Ru" Agency reports.

Genry Reznik, head of the Moscow Bar, said in his interview to the "Echo Moskvy" Radio that Boris Kuznetsov had filed a complaint to the European Court, and his case there will have a priority there, since he was not even announced into federal search.