Lawyer Valeria Vetoshkina has been placed under a travel restriction order as a preventive measure in a criminal case over alleged failure to fulfil “foreign agent” obligations (Part 2, Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by the “First Department.”

The investigator made this decision because Vetoshkina “might abscond from the investigation and court.” The lawyer has not lived in Russia for several years.

Vetoshkina was also assigned a legal representative from the guardianship authorities, even though she is an adult and legally competent young woman. During questioning, when the representative was assisted by a defender, the investigator rejected all the defender’s questions, citing “a conflict with the interests of the accused.” As “First Department” notes, the defender was asking about whether the representative’s position was coordinated with Vetoshkina and about her interests.

“I wasn’t allowed in before, and now I’m not allowed out,” Vetoshkina commented on being placed under the travel restriction order.

In March, it became known that a criminal case had been opened against Vetoshkina for failure to fulfil “foreign agent” obligations. Before that, she had been fined twice under a similar administrative article for failing to submit a “foreign agent” report (Part 2, Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offences). In May, the police put out a warrant for the lawyer.

The Ministry of Justice added Vetoshkina to the “foreign agents” register in November 2021 together with several of her former colleagues from the human rights project “Team 29.” This organisation specialised in defending freedom of speech and handled a number of criminal cases on state treason and espionage, in which it attempted to prove that the persecution of its defendants was unjustified.