Summary, 

Based on my litigation experience as a foreigner in Belarus, I strongly suggest that any Belarusian attorney duly notify their International clients immediately that there is no judicial security in Belarus and that lawlessness prevails. Therefore, it is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve any justice through the Belarusian courts when litigating for the return of your children or when trying to defend your fundamental human rights.

Unfortunately, however, foreigners do not know this. They also do not know that the Head of the Belarusian Bar Association is the extension and puppet of the unrecognized Belarusian Government in Belarus and the Ministry of Justice.

Citation:

Currently, the head of the national Bar Association, Victor Chaychits, is a member of the upper chamber of parliament. He told us to vote for Lukashenko yet asserted that lawyers shouldn’t talk about political matters publicly because otherwise, one breaches legal ethics. He doesn’t serve the law; he is a former policeman. He only has this position because it was given to him by the minister of justice.

“In a way, he is his puppet; his own opinion isn’t relevant. Whatever the outcome of the amendments, the situation is controlled already by the justice minister and the Bar Association. Since the Bar Association is so closely tied to the Ministry of Justice, it is very unlikely that they would act contrary to the political agenda. The current Minister of Justice does not have a legal education; he is a former policeman”.

I was disbarred when I refused to be silent about my inability to visit my client in jail, despite clear laws that allow for it. When I resisted this and went to the media, it led to conflict, and I got disbarred. Unless the regime is changed, actual reforms will not be relevant or meaningful.

Source: Lawyers For Lawyers, 15 Dec 2021

Belarusian lawyer Mikhail Kirilyuk: “We should never stop resisting”.

The courts of Belarus are only a joke and a tool of repression for Lukashenko and his “Terror Organization”. Therefore, litigating people from other countries should immediately be told the truth; forget about any judicial security and Justice in Belarus! Instead, spend your money, energy, and efforts somewhere else on something that actually makes sense. But, of course, no lawyer will tell this because you are their source of income, and they will not send you away. So, I really do understand their dilemma.

However, even if I knew all of this from the very beginning, it would not stop me from starting my legal battle to achieve the return of my children back to their home in Sweden. Hopefully, one day, my daughters will find out how hard I fought for them and that I reached the Belarusian Supreme Court after four years of intensive litigation in the Lawless State of Belarus.

There is more than enough documentation, facts, and involved people to help them realize and understand that in Belarus, nobody has ever been telling them the truth about their “Abduction” and “Separation” from their father and home in Stockholm.

No cost was ever too high for me to try to save my children, and no expense should ever be too high for any parent who got their child Abducted!

Thus, I understand the “Money Machine” Lukashenko has set up to have a constant and stable inflow of hard currency and why most lawyers do not protest the legal atrocities in Belarus. They don’t want to lose their lollypop by charging unreasonable fees compared with other countries.

It’s a Win-Win situation for both Lukashenko and them, so why should they bother to react? Thus, with their indifference, they indirectly support Lukashenko’s corrupt system recognized by “Sepsis”.

A shining example is the law office “Law and Family Mediation”, managed by the ladies Elena Zhdanovich – Irina Bagnich, who promotes themselves as “Mediation Specialists” in Belarus. These two ladies are fanatic supporters of Lukashenko’s fascistic regime and his Mafia. Therefore, their “competence” is derived solely from their connections to some high-rank officials of the Belarusian ”State Administration”.

Licking the Ass of Lukashenko and his criminal Gang pays off in Belarus.

Thus, the proportion or analogy regarding the quality of services, professionalism, and competence is unreasonable compared to other countries. 

Average Fees in some European Countries:

#Sweden

Average Fee for a Lawyer:160-210 Euro per hour (this is the fee for the majority of the European countries). The minimum Net Salary in Sweden is around 2200 Euros per month.

#Greece

Average Fee for a Lawyer:80-130 Euro per hour. The minimum Net Salary in Greece is 800 Euros per month (the Lawyers in Greece adapted their fees to the current financial situation).

Here, I must add that my Attorney in Greece has done all the hard work and supervised my Litigation Process in Belarus, thus charging me the minimum. I would not mind paying double if asked!

I guess it is about Ethics and Professionalism. 

#Belarus

Average Fee for a Lawyer:130-200 Euro per hour. I always wondered if these are the fees for foreigners, perhaps? The official Minimum Net Salary in Belarus is 500 BYN, which, let’s say, is equivalent to 300 Euro per month.

How do Belarusian Lawyers justify their fees? Are they able to answer with some “CREDIBILITY”?

A litigating parent from a European country informed me recently that he was asked to pay 250 Euros per hour in Minsk! And that, at the beginning of his litigation process in Belarus in 2016/2017!

Unfortunately, most Belarusian lawyers are silent and not publicly trying to improve their society in any way.

On the contrary, their passivity and absence indirectly support the Lawlessness and Judicial Corruption in the Totalitarian State of Belarus. If attorneys dare to raise their voices to protest this, they are suppressed and denied from exercising their profession because the “State Mafia” will cancel their attorney license.

But there is still hope because, on 13 Jul 2020, an article was published by tut.by (tut.by was cracked down), which perfectly describes the questions raised on this page. Currently, 101 lawyers in Minsk signed a declaration of “Protest”. I find this a good sign and an excellent initiative, and I was happy to read about this.

It was a great article worth reading (but unfortunately, the media company tut.by was closed down by Lukashenko and his Criminal Gang).

Source:

TUT.BY – Independent Belarus media website blocked after series of raids

The authorities opened a criminal case against TUT.BY (tut.by was cracked down)

I do understand that everybody wants to have a life. However, if you, as a lawyer, accept the gruesome and ruthless Belarusian Judicial reality and you work under constant pressure, control, and fear, there is no way you can perform a quality job as your client’s representative.

There is a clear and direct conflict between your acceptance of the corrupt Judicial system and your Duty to “Honestly” represent your clients, who usually do not suspect how bad things in Belarus are.

In my opinion, the legal community of Belarus, in cooperation with the International community, has a moral obligation to support the Belarusian people’s struggle for liberty and justice. Nothing will change if you keep silent. Or, is money, or should I ask if the nouveau rich mentality is more important to some of you than your own country? If so, think about it; how long do you think this can continue?

Below, please find a couple of links that describe the above clearly:

Source:

Crackdown on Political Activists, Journalists in Belarus

Excerpts:

“Lawyers have been “ASKED”, to keep their political preferences to themselves”. Minsk City Bar Association points out to its members “that no public emotional statements are acceptable”.

Source:

The telegram channel also said that concerning lawyers Alexander Pylchenko and Dmitry Laevsky defending the Belarusian presidential candidate Viktor Babariko, “disciplinary proceedings are being prepared”. They were threatened with expulsion from the bar, which means revoking the license to lawyer activity”.

2020.10.15; Today, Aleksandr Pylchenko, a Minsk City Bar Association member for 30 years, got his license revoked by Lukashenko’s puppets! That is another example of a legal default. The state of Belarus has broken down. It doesn’t work anymore!

The criminals who are ruling Belarus have shown again that they are afraid of the truth, scared of professionals who stand on the letter of the law and for whom the law is above all.

Alexander Pylchenko is an honest and conscientious lawyer.

Source:

# 2020.10.21 Revoke disbarment of lawyer Aleksandr Pylchenko

# 2020.12.20 Preliminary Report on the Disbarment of Alexander Pylchenko

Qualification Commission at the Ministry of Justice has terminated the licenses of lawyers Kanstantsin Mikhel, Mikhail Kiryliuk, Maksim Konan, and Liudmila Kazak, Mediazona reports.

The reasoning behind this decision is unknown. The basis for Kanstantsin Mikhel‘s license review was his administrative arrest (14 days) under Article 23.34 in November 2020. Maksim Konanis in the same situation; he served 12 days in October. In the case of Liudmila Kazak, lawyer of Maryia Kalesnikava, the formal cause was an administrative case under Article 23.4 (“Disobedience to the lawful demand of an official”).

Mikhail Kiryliuk, a member of the Coordination Council, is not in Belarus at the moment – his interests were represented at the commission by Siarhei Zikratski. Mikhail Kiryliuk’s license was terminated because of “inappropriate expressions towards representatives of Belarusian state bodies”.

The board will make the final decision of the Ministry of Justice at the beginning of next week. But, for now, the lawyers are still entitled to engage in their activities.

Source:

# 2021.02.20 Four Belarusian lawyers stand to lose licenses

And we should not forget Maxim Znak, who is in jail, a Belarusian lawyer and politician, part of Viktor Babaryka’s team, member of the Presidium of the Coordination Council formed during the 2020–21 Belarusian protests in opposition to the rule of Alexander Lukashenko.

After my children’s abduction, I started looking for a lawyer. I, of course, immediately hired Ms. Martha Poni from Hellas (Greece). 

I have known Martha for many years, and I know the quality of her skills, competencies, and fighting spirit. Therefore, I asked Martha to supervise my legal battle abroad and follow up and instruct her colleagues in Belarus in cooperation with a Swedish lawyer I still was looking to hire. Later on, Martha became increasingly engaged in my case, and since early 2018, she has fully engaged and supervised my litigation process in Belarus and Sweden.

I conducted my research in Sweden and decided to hire Ms. Linda Reinolds, a sharp and creative lawyer with empathy who also speaks Russian fluently.

I also made the mistake of hiring two other lawyers in Sweden who claimed to be “Experts” regarding “Child Abduction”. But, unfortunately, they were only scratching their Genitals!

That was the worst possible experience, and it is not worth spending time and energy describing their unprofessional behavior and irresponsibility. 

Unfortunately, the weakest link in my litigation process in Belarus was Sweden and the MFA of Sweden, which acts as the central authority concerning “Child Abduction”.

The most challenging part was finding a lawyer in Belarus. It took quite a lot of time to find what I needed, but in the end, I was able to hire someone there, too.

Unfortunately, during those four years of litigation in Belarus, which ended in the middle of 2020, I had to change lawyers two times until I discovered a professional law office. I felt like they defended my interests under Belarus’s current lawless state to the best possible degree.

Looking back now, I think I should have hired a Human Rights lawyer instead.

Below, please find my review of all the Attorneys I have been working with starting April 2017.

Nicolaos A.A. Cheropoulos
Father of Anthie’ and Alexandra
Stockholm, April 2020
Reviewed Oct. 2023