Interference in Human Rights Activities: How a Summons to the TCC Became a Tool to Exert Pressure on a Lawyer

On October 18, 2024, our client (a company classified as a critical infrastructure entity in the Poltava region) reported that SBU agents were conducting investigative activities on the company’s premises and requested that a lawyer be present at the scene.

Attorney Yuri Radzievsky arrived at the scene to represent the company’s interests during the investigative proceedings.

In response to the attorney’s request to explain the nature of the ongoing procedural actions, as well as the legal basis for law enforcement officers’ entry onto the company’s premises and the disruption (temporarily suspending) the company’s normal operations, the SBU representative stated that “counterintelligence measures” were currently underway.
The law enforcement representative refused to provide any further explanation regarding the reasons for and purpose of these measures.

However, after the attorney arrived, the law enforcement officers present at the scene ceased their attempts to enter the company’s premises.

Instead, an SBU officer “invited” employees of the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center to the scene and instructed them to verify the attorney’s documents and serve him with a summons to appear at the TRSC.

Following the SBU officer’s instructions, the TCS support center representative summoned the attorney to the center to verify his registration details.
At that point, the “counterintelligence measures” carried out by the law enforcement officials were terminated, and the business resumed its operations without any procedural documents being drawn up based on the results of those measures.

At the same time, the actions of the SBU officers in instructing TCC representatives to serve a summons to the TCC to appear before the TCC—a summons issued to a lawyer participating in the proceedings— a summons to appear at the TCC, constitute a clear interference in the representative’s professional activities, aimed at depriving the client of legal assistance.

Such actions by law enforcement officials undermine confidence in the TCC’s operations and transform the TCC’s activities into a mechanism for extrajudicial pressure on participants in criminal proceedings and third parties, and therefore require an immediate response.