Criminal defence in Russia for foreign nationals
Someone you love has been detained in Russia. The first 48 hours decide the case.
We are a Moscow criminal defence firm. We act for foreign nationals and for the families and employers instructing us from abroad — from the first police interview through trial, appeal and, where a sentence is already being served, early release.
- A lawyer admitted to the case from the moment of detention, not after the charge
- Consular notification and contact with the embassy
- A written interpreter check — proceedings your relative can actually follow
- Case updates in English, to the family, in writing
Article 228.1 part 4 of the Criminal Code
Before
11 years of imprisonment
After
5 years 6 months
How
Errors in the classification of the offence. Cassation complaint built on the legal positions of the Supreme Court.
Internal review
Complaints are checked by more than one lawyer before filing
Privilege from day one
Art. 8 of the Federal Law on Advocacy, indefinite
All Russia
Cases taken across the Russian regions
9
Advocates and criminal lawyers
registration numbers published
24/7
Enquiries answered
detention does not wait for office hours
English
Correspondence and case updates
interpreter free in the case itself
Free
First assessment of the case
Art. 8
Legal privilege from the first contact
Federal Law on Advocacy
What we can help with
What we can help with
Every stage of a Russian criminal case, from the first police interview to an application for early release.
During the investigation
The stage that decides the case. A lawyer must be in the room from the first interview — not after the file is already built.
The court must rule on custody within 48 hours of detention. Contact a lawyer before that hearing, not after it.
At trial
The first-instance hearing is the last stage where facts can still be established. After it, only law can be argued.
Once the verdict is announced you have 15 days to appeal. Preparation for that appeal begins during the trial, not after it.
Challenging a verdict
A conviction is not the end of the case. There are four further stages, and each has its own rules and its own deadline.
Appeal: 15 days from the verdict. Continuous cassation: 6 months from the verdict entering into force. Both deadlines are strict.
Appeal
15 days from the verdict. The only stage after trial where the facts themselves can still be re-examined.
15 days from the verdict — or from service of the verdict, if the defendant is in custody. Filed through the trial court.
Cassation
After the verdict enters into force. Not a rehearing — a search for breaches of law serious enough to have changed the outcome.
Six months from the verdict entering into force for continuous cassation. After that, only the discretionary route remains.
Supreme Court
The final judicial instance. Reached after the regional cassation court, and reached by very few cases.
No absolute deadline, but only after the regional cassation court has ruled — and the sooner the better.
Chairman of the Supreme Court
When a single judge has refused to refer a cassation complaint, the Chairman may disagree with that refusal. A narrow remedy that is frequently drafted wrongly.
No formal deadline — but this is the last ordinary step, and it needs the refusal decision to argue against.
Constitutional Court
Not an appeal. A challenge to the law itself — available only after every other remedy has been used, and only within one year.
One year from the decision of the last court in which the contested provision was applied — and only after other remedies are exhausted.
Parole and commutation
Once part of the sentence is served, release becomes a question of preparation rather than argument about guilt.
There is no filing deadline — but eligibility arrives on a fixed date, and the file that wins the hearing takes months to assemble.
What makes the difference
One defence position, prepared by more than one lawyer
Every case goes through internal review before the steps that cannot be undone. It lowers the risk of missing the one error that a higher court would have acted on.
Reading the case
The verdict, the protocols and the practice of the higher courts on comparable facts. Before any position is taken.
You learn what can actually be challenged
Building the position
Argument tied to identified breaches — of the investigation, of the trial court, and of the previous defence.
Built on law, not on indignation
Internal review
Other lawyers in the firm test the complaint, strengthen the argument and look for grounds that were missed.
Less chance of losing the decisive point
A client gets a document written for their case — not a template with the names changed.
If it has just happened
The first 24 hours
If you have just been told that a relative has been detained in Russia, this is the order to do things in. It costs nothing and it matters more than anything you will read later on this site.
Establish where they are and what the charge is
You need three things: the city, the police department or investigative body holding them, and the article of the Criminal Code. The article is a number — for example 228, or 159. Without it nobody can tell you anything useful. If you cannot get it, we can find out.
Do not let anyone give a statement before a lawyer is present
Article 51 of the Russian Constitution gives the right not to testify against oneself, and exercising it cannot be held against the accused. A statement made in the first hours without a lawyer is the most common single cause of the convictions we are later asked to appeal.
Get a defence lawyer into the case immediately
The right to a lawyer arises from the moment of actual detention, not from the moment of charge. A state-appointed lawyer will be provided; a retained lawyer can be brought in at any stage and can act alongside or in place of them.
Notify the consulate
Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations gives a detained foreign national the right to have their consulate informed and to communicate with it. The consulate cannot defend the case, but it can confirm where the person is, visit them and pass messages.
Prepare for the custody hearing
Within 48 hours a court decides whether your relative spends the investigation in a detention centre or at home under restrictions. Documents showing an address, an employer, family ties and surrendered travel documents all belong in front of that judge — but only if someone puts them there.
Keep every document and every message
Detention records, receipts, correspondence, tickets, medical papers, the contact details of anyone who was present. Camera footage is overwritten within days. What is collected in the first week is often what decides the case a year later.
Results, not promises
Case results
Outcomes actually obtained, in summary form with identifying details removed. They illustrate the work; they are not a prediction for your case.
Eleven years reduced to five and a half
Before
11 years of imprisonment
After
5 years 6 months
Case terminated, rehabilitation
Before
Conviction
After
Case terminated, right to rehabilitation recognised
Prison replaced with corrective labour
Before
8 years in a strict-regime correctional colony
After
Unserved part replaced with corrective labour
Sentence reduced by more than two years
Before
7 years of imprisonment
After
4 years 8 months
Who will handle it
The people who will handle it
Advocates with registration numbers you can verify, each working within a defined area of criminal practice.
Vitaly Sekretev
Advocate — appeals and cassation
Bar registration No. 56/534
Nadezhda Muftieva
Advocate — economic and financial crime
Bar registration No. 03/2627
Konstantin Gortaev
Advocate — drug offences, Articles 228, 228.1 and 229
Bar registration No. 78/7778
Elena Shilina
Advocate — offences against sexual inviolability, Articles 131, 132, 134, 135
Bar registration No. 19/305
Grigory Nosov
Managing Director, criminal lawyer
Alena Melikhova
Senior criminal lawyer — conditions of detention, transfer of prisoners
How we work
How we work with families abroad
One point of contact, in English
You do not chase the firm for news. You get written updates after each significant step — the custody hearing, the charge, the completion of the investigation, each hearing — in English, from the same person each time.
Legal professional privilege
Article 8 of the Federal Law on Advocacy protects everything a client tells an advocate. Advocates cannot be questioned about it, and meetings with a client in a detention centre are confidential, unlimited in number and unlimited in duration.
The interpreter question, answered honestly
Under Article 18 of the Criminal Procedure Code an interpreter is compulsory and free of charge for anyone who does not command Russian, and the charge, the indictment and the verdict must be translated. We check the interpreter's competence early — a mistranslated answer becomes evidence.
An honest assessment before you pay anything
We tell families what is realistic. Full acquittals in Russian criminal courts are rare and anyone promising one is selling something. What is achievable — reclassification, exclusion of unproven episodes, a sentence below the statutory minimum, early release — is usually measured in years of a person's life.
Visits, money and parcels
Transfers to a detainee's account, parcels, letters and visits all run through a regulated system with limits and permissions. We explain what is possible in the specific facility and handle the applications.
Coverage across Russia
We are based in Moscow and act across the Russian regions. Where a case is held far from Moscow we will tell you plainly what the realistic timing is rather than promise an hour we cannot keep.
FAQ
Questions families ask
My relative has been detained in Russia. What happens in the first 48 hours?
The police may hold a suspect for 48 hours without a court order. Within that window a judge decides whether to remand them in custody, place them under house arrest, or release them under other restrictions. That hearing sets the frame for the whole case, and material supporting an alternative to custody has to be put before the judge by someone.
How do I find out where they are being held?
Through the investigative body, through the consulate, or through a lawyer who can make the enquiries formally. The city plus the person's full name and date of birth is usually enough for us to establish it.
Will they be given a lawyer?
Yes — a state-appointed advocate must be provided. They are qualified, but they are assigned through the same system that is prosecuting, they often meet the client minutes before the first interview, and they carry heavy caseloads. A retained lawyer may be instructed at any stage.
Will the embassy be informed?
Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations gives that right, but it is exercised on request and requests get lost. We notify the consulate ourselves and keep the correspondence on file.
Does my relative get an interpreter?
Yes, compulsorily and free of charge, under Article 18 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Documents that must be served on the accused — the charge, the indictment, the verdict — must be translated. The quality varies, and inadequate interpretation is both a defence problem and a ground of appeal.
Can I visit them?
Visits by relatives to someone held in a pre-trial detention centre require the permission of the investigator or the court, and that permission is discretionary. The defence lawyer's access is not restricted in this way.
Start here
Tell us what happened
The more precisely you can describe the situation, the more useful our first answer will be. If someone was detained in the last 48 hours, say so — it changes what we do in the next hour.