Authorities disbar reputed lawyer Natallya Matskevich. She defended Babaryka, Tsikhanouski
Lawyer Natallya Matskevich has been expelled from Minsk City Bar Сouncil. She is known to be defending Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s jailed opponents Viktar Babaryka, Syarhei Tsikhanouski, activist Mikalai Dzyadok and other oppositionists.
“Well then, I have to change my status to ‘NOT a lawyer’. My colleagues decided to exclude me from their honorary ranks. I felt sorry for them,” Matskevich wrote on Twitter.
It means that Babaryka, who was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment in July, is left without a defence lawyer. On October 20, the Belarusian Justice Ministry suspended Yauhen Pylchanka, another lawyer of Viktar Babaryka. Two attorneys who used to work for him before were stripped of their licenses.
Last week the ministry was reported to launch a disciplinary investigation against Natallya Matskevich.
According to independent media outlets, the professional who has had plenty of experience in defending people in political trials is one of the most respected lawyers in Belarus.
Since the beginning of post-election protests in 2020, the Justice Ministry’s Qualification Commission have terminated the licenses of many Belarusian lawyers who were involved in defending citizens prosecuted on political grounds. Over the past months, political prisoner Maryia Kalesnikava’s defence lawyers Alyaksandr Pylchanka and Lyudmila Kazak have been disbarred. In addition, the Belarusian authorities forced out of the profession Kanstantsin Mikhel, Mikhail Kirilyuk, Maksim Konan, Uladzimir Sazanchuk (the latter defends politician Mikalai Statkevich, blogger Zmitser Kazlou and was one of Katsyaryna Andreyeva’s lawyers), Anton Hashynski, Syarhei Zikratski. The Belarusian State University (BSU) decided not to re-sign the employment contract with Alena Layeuskaya, a civil law teacher at the Faculty of Law and mother of Babaryka’s lawyer Dzmitry Layeuski.
