MOSCOW, February 20 - RAPSI. Lawyers' associations should perform more detailed checks of their members' qualifications to prevent the forgery of education certificates and violation of their clients' rights to a defense, Moscow Regional Bar member Nina Yeremenko told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Monday.

A Moscow district court recently sentenced well-known attorney-at-law and TV host Vladimir Oreshnikov to two years in prison for large-scale fraud. Oreshnikov was convicted of fraud after it turned out that he had illegally practiced law using a fake diploma. Criminal cases in which he represented clients might now be reconsidered, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Monday.

The investigation revealed that Oreshnikov illegally practiced law for 12 years. He obtained his lawyer's status in the Moscow Regional Bar using a fake diploma, supposedly issued by Belarus State University in June 1991. Investigators learned that that he had in fact never studied there.

Yeremenko noted that this is a single instance, and does not provide the grounds to assume that many more such facts will be uncovered as a result of improved checks.

She added that she is in favor of tougher requirements, while testing lawyers.