State-appointed lawyer: accept or not?

• When one is appointed. You have the right to a lawyer from the moment of actual detention (art. 49 CPC). If you have no lawyer, or yours cannot come within 24 hours of detention, the investigator appoints one via the bar chamber (art. 50 CPC). The state pays, from 1,861 roubles a day since October 2025. In administrative cases there is usually no free defender, but anyone with a power of attorney can defend you (art. 25.5 CAO).
• Free, but not always. If you are convicted, the court may recover the appointed lawyer's fee from you (arts 131, 132 CPC). It is not recovered on acquittal, under the special procedure, or if you refused the lawyer in writing and the refusal was rejected (arts 132, 316 CPC). The court may waive it fully or partly if you cannot pay or your dependants would suffer (art. 132 pt 6 CPC).
• 'Pocket' lawyers. This is the name for defenders who work for the investigation rather than for you. Under Federal Bar Chamber rules the investigator must not influence who is appointed. Questions on the Moscow Bar Chamber website describe how an investigator can arrange for 'their' lawyer to accept the request in the system; the chamber replies that random selection prevents this. The ethics code forbids a lawyer to act against the client's will.
• Warning signs. OVD-Info advises changing your lawyer if they urge you straight away to admit everything and sign. Be wary if they do not talk to you alone before questioning, although that is your right (art. 46 CPC), do not explain what you are signing, avoid your questions or ask your family for money. Mediazona described a 2017 case where an appointed lawyer did not explain the consequences of the special procedure, and another demanded money from a family.
• Should you refuse at once? OVD-Info advises against staying without a lawyer in the first hours if you have none: your family can replace the appointed one later. Ask to talk alone before questioning; you may give no statement (art. 51 of the Constitution). A statement made without a lawyer and retracted in court is inadmissible (art. 75 CPC). One made with a lawyer present can be used even if retracted (arts 46, 47 CPC).
• How to refuse and replace. The refusal must be in writing; during questioning it goes into the record (art. 52 CPC). The investigator and court need not accept it. Refusing for lack of money, or refusing one specific lawyer, does not count: another will be appointed (Supreme Court Plenum No. 29, para. 13). Your family can hire a lawyer (art. 50 CPC). Then refusing the appointed 'double' must be accepted unless it is abuse (Constitutional Court, 28-P).
• Where to look, and Belarus. Since June 2026 OVD-Info no longer arranges lawyers in Russia. It refers people to First Department, the Net Freedoms Project and Prison Lawyer. In Belarus every lawyer must belong to a bar collegium, the Ministry of Justice approves trainees, and appointed lawyers come via the collegium. Viasna counted at least 141 lawyers stripped of licences since 2020 (2024 data). Detainees there get a free consultation before the first questioning (art. 46 CPC of Belarus).

Designations of organisations in this guide: OVD-Info (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); Viasna Human Rights Centre (extremist in Belarus). 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: Russian Constitution, art. 48: right to a lawyer from detention (in Russian); 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. 51: when a defender is mandatory (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 52: refusing a defender (in Russian); Supreme Court Plenum ruling No. 29 on the right to a defence, paras 13-14 (in Russian); Constitutional Court ruling 28-P: refusing an appointed lawyer when a hired one is on the case (in Russian); Moscow Bar Chamber: 'The dangers of double defence' (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 131: procedural costs (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 132: recovering costs from the convicted person (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 316: at most 2/3 of the maximum, no costs recovered (in Russian); Garant: fees for appointed lawyers from 1 October 2025 (in Russian); Code of Administrative Offences, art. 25.5: the defender in administrative cases (in Russian); Russian Constitution, art. 51 (ConsultantPlus, in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 46: rights of a suspect (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 47: rights of the accused (in Russian); Criminal Procedure Code, art. 75: inadmissible evidence (in Russian); Federal Bar Chamber: rules on appointing lawyers, section 3 (in Russian); Moscow Bar Chamber: Q&A on appointed cases (in Russian); Code of Professional Ethics for Lawyers, art. 9 (Garant, in Russian); Code of Professional Ethics for Lawyers, art. 20: complaints to the bar chamber (in Russian); OVD-Info: choosing a lawyer and whether to trust an appointed one (in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); First Department: finding and choosing a lawyer (in Russian) (foreign agent); Mediazona: 'Isolation, speed and the appointed lawyer' (26 March case, 2017, in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist materials in Belarus); OVD-Info no longer provides legal aid in Russia (since June 2026) (in Russian) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); Belarus Criminal Procedure Code, arts 44-47 and ch. 49.1 (pravo.by, in Russian); Belarus Law on the Bar, arts 7 and 9 (pravo.by, in Russian); Mediazona Belarus: at least 141 lawyers disbarred since 2020 (Viasna data, in Russian) (extremist in Belarus); Mediazona Belarus: the 'Right to Defence' lawyers' association declared an 'extremist formation' (in Russian) (extremist in Belarus)