Russia and rights
Two leading Russian human rights attorneys visited Harvard Law School (HLS) on Tuesday to discuss the country’s legal system and offer long-term hope that steps can be taken toward democratic reforms. But the road won’t be easy, the scholars said, and significant change will take time. The session was sponsored by Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and the HLS Advocates for Human Rights, Lawyer Sergey Golubok has been involved in a number of recent high-profile cases, including the defense of several members of a Greenpeace activist group jailed after they attempted to board a Russian oil rig to protest oil exploration in the Barents Sea, as well as the defense of members of the feminist protest rock group Pussy Riot, who were jailed after protesting against Russian President Vladimir Putin in an Orthodox Church in Moscow. Golubok said the biggest legal concern in Russia is the lack of judicial...