MOSCOW, April 15 (RAPSI) — The Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation proposes to allow councelors to bring technical communication equipment into the territory of detention centers, as well as devices that allow audio and video recording.

The law governing custody procedures needs to be amended to the effect that suspects and accused persons are granted meetings with their lawyers from the moment of actual detention, in private and confidentially, without limiting the number and duration of such meetings, with the exception of cases envisaged by the national Code of Criminal Procedure. It is also proposed to indicate that lawyers are allowed to bring with them technical means of communication, devices allowing filming, audio and video recording, as well as technical means on which copies of the materials of the criminal case are stored, into the territories of the places of detention, a new Report on the activities of the Chamber's Council for the period from April 2019 to April 2021 reads.

Besides, it is proposed to supplement the said law with a provision prohibiting investigators and operational officers to visit persons held in pre-trial detention centers in the absence of their lawyers.

The proposed amendments are to settle the problem of the priority currently given to law enforcement officers as to the availability of investigation offices, the body believes.