Criminal case

• Now: a suspect can be held for up to 48 hours before a court decides on pre-trial measures. Human rights groups usually advise asking for your own lawyer at once and giving no statement before meeting them (art. 51 of the Constitution).
• Pre-trial measures range from a written undertaking not to leave and bans on certain actions to house arrest or a pre-trial detention centre (SIZO). The court's ruling can be appealed within 3 days.
• Next: the investigation usually takes months. Plea deals and confessions are often offered; discuss with a lawyer what a deal would actually give you before agreeing. A lighter sentence is not guaranteed.
• A verdict can be appealed within 15 days, then in cassation. To complain to the UN Human Rights Committee later you must go through every instance (see the note on international complaints).
• Where to turn: First Department (foreign agent), Memorial (designated 'extremist' in Russia), the Institute for Law and Public Policy (foreign agent); about life in SIZO: Prison Lawyer; letters and parcels: Solidarity Zone (foreign agent). OVD-Info ('extremist' in Russia) advises but no longer refers lawyers inside Russia. Contact organisations designated 'extremist' from a different phone from the one that could be seized.
• Your own lawyer. Your family can hire a lawyer for you: other people may engage a defender with your consent (art. 50 CPC). The lawyer joins the case by showing their ID and warrant (art. 49 CPC). If the lawyer you asked for has not come within 5 days, the investigator may suggest another and then appoint one (art. 50 CPC).
• The prosecutor supervises the investigation, approves the indictment and argues the case in court (art. 37 CPC). The prosecutor must answer a complaint about the investigator within 3 days, or 10 in exceptional cases (art. 124 CPC). Actions violating your rights can be challenged in the district court, which rules within 14 days (art. 125 CPC). First Department notes that complaints do not always help but record violations.
• Statements and your lawyer. A statement made without a lawyer and not confirmed in court is inadmissible (art. 75 CPC). But what you say with a lawyer present can be used even if you retract it (arts 46, 47 CPC). Before the first questioning you may talk to a lawyer alone (art. 46 CPC). A confession without other evidence is not enough to convict (art. 77 CPC).
• If the charge is financing terrorism (art. 205.1 CC). The case is heard by a district military court, a panel of three judges, with no jury (arts. 30, 31 CPC). There is no simplified procedure (art. 314 CPC). The law does not allow a term below the minimum or a suspended sentence (arts. 64, 73 CC). Cases under art. 282.3 are heard by a district court.
• Property. An arrest in the case (art. 115 CPC) secures a fine or confiscation. It is not yet a seizure. A sole home without a mortgage may not be arrested (art. 115 part 4 CPC, art. 446 Civil Procedure Code). In donation cases courts usually confiscate the donated sum and the phone. We found no case where a donor's flat was confiscated.
• Family money. If the case is under an 'extremist' or 'terrorist' article (for example, a donation to FBK) or under art. 280.3 CC ('discrediting' the army), the accused is put on the Rosfinmonitoring list before any verdict and his accounts are frozen (Law 115-FZ, art. 6, para 2.1). The accounts of his wife and other relatives are not frozen for that reason alone. If all the family's money sat on the accused's cards, the family can be left without funds (Radio Svoboda, 2025). See 'I'm on the Rosfinmonitoring list'.

Designations of organisations in this guide: OVD-Info (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); Memorial Human Rights Defence Centre (extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); Memorial Political Prisoners Support (extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list). Contacting them carries a risk: do not write from a phone that may be seized, and do not repost their materials.

current as of 26 September 2026. More: First Department: how to estimate a possible sentence (foreign agent); First Department: plea deals (foreign agent); OVD-Info: how to find and choose a lawyer (extremist); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 49: the defender and from when (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 50: engaging and appointing a defender (24 hours, 5 days) (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 37: the prosecutor's powers (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 124: complaint to the prosecutor (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 125: complaint to a court (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 75: inadmissible evidence (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 46: rights of a suspect (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 77: a confession must be corroborated (in Russian); First Department: how to write complaints (in Russian) (foreign agent); First Department: provocations, including informers in cells (in Russian) (foreign agent); Criminal Procedure Code art. 31: military district courts (ConsultantPlus, in Russian); Criminal Code art. 64 (ConsultantPlus, in Russian); Criminal Code art. 73 (ConsultantPlus, in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code art. 115: arrest of property (ConsultantPlus, in Russian); Mediazona: fine and confiscation of the donated sum (22.09.2026, in Russian) (foreign agent); Radio Svoboda: old FBK donations lead to prison (14.10.2025, in Russian) (foreign agent, undesirable)