Source: hro.org (info), 29/11/10

· The Courts

· Prisoners

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on 29 November 2010 recognized the possibility of lawful censorship of correspondence between a prisoner and their legal representative.

However, the Court's ruling lays down that this measure must be used only in exceptional circumstances, when there are reasons to suspect that the correspondence threatens witnesses in the case or hinders the investigating authorities.

In addition, the opening of letters addressed to a lawyer is permissible only in the presence of the person who is in detention.

The reason for the consideration of this case by the Constitutional Court was the application by defendants Yury Volokhonsky and Dmitry Baranovsky. In their opinion, censorship of correspondence between a prisoner and their legal representative violates the principle of confidentiality of relations between lawyer and client, and hinders access to qualified legal assistance, Radio Liberty reports.