What we can help with
What we do
Every stage of a Russian criminal case, from the first police interview to an application for early release.
All practice areas
Defence under specific articles of the Russian Criminal Code
Drugs, fraud, bribery, forgery, violence. What each charge actually means, what it carries, and where the defence usually is.
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.
Not sure which of these fits your case?
Tell us what has happened and where the case stands. We will say which stage you are at, what the deadlines are, and what can still be done — before any question of a fee.