Today, the law and business are the most dangerous professions in Russia. Lawyers – who work for highly-ranking law firms, like Yust, which is connected to the Russian government through relatives working for Putin and one of the partners heading a committee in the Duma – are safe. But the ones who are trying to challenge the lawyers described above, or defend YUKOS for that matter – are targets.
Dmitry Steinberg was an attorney of Elena Baturina, wife of Moscow’s mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Mr. Steinberg had been defending the interests of Baturina's company Inteko until October 13, when he was murdered at home in Moscow. The reasons for the two murders may be very different, and they are very well discussed in the LexisNexis article; however I would like to discuss the pattern and frequency of these Russian "legal battles".
Just in the last few months, the attorney Alexander Ekaterinichev was killed in St. Petersburg, Elena Yazik – in Moscow, Vladimir Liharev – in Samara, Igor Rosenburg and Sergey Zhalilov in Astrakhan.
Elena Baturina is the Russia’s richest woman, controlling 20% of all construction contracts in Moscow, one of the most expensive and fastest growing cities in the world. What a surprise that just by chance she happens to be married to the Mayor of Moscow. Yuri Luzhkov is a good mayor but corrupt, just like any other politician in Russia. The mayor of Moscow is more than just a mayor; he is a governor and a popular politician as well. The Russian Constitution makes Moscow and St. Petersburg city-states due to their size and importance.
Mrs. Baturina has always been involved in business and politics when the stakes are high, and business is risky. Now even she feels unsafe, and has publicly demanded protection from President Putin.
It was Elena Baturina who owned the Transvaal Water and Recreation Park, that collapsed two years ago, killing several dozen adults and children. No one ever proved her ownership, because the paper trail got lost in over 10 shell companies related to the park. The water park was not insured for architectural mistakes, and the flawed building design was the reason for the tragedy. The families of the killed and injured never received any compensation.
While the legal system is slow, corrupt and dysfunctional, many businesses prefer the shortcuts of bribery and murder, instead of improving their services and competition. The drawback of bribes is that you have to hide the paper trail, or re-direct the accusations against someone else. That’s the lawyers’ job, and that’s why many of them become targets, literally dying for the crimes of their clients.
