LPR ombudsperson, lawyers sign cooperation agreement

Lugansk People’s Republic ombudsperson Viktoria Serdyukova and head of the Russian lawyers association's regional branch Viktoria Tyutyunnikova have signed an agreement on cooperation in helping various group of citizens including those hurt in Ukrainian armed aggression.

 

LPR lawyers who later joined the association of Russian lawyers and the ombudsperson's Office began to closely interact after the beginning of the special military operation in February 2022, Serdyukova said at the signing ceremony at the Lugansk Media Center.

 

“Concerned lawyers asked us how they could help; they worked on a gratuitous basis for months, guided by their patriotism and sheer enthusiasm,” she said. “They helped their colleagues in our Office because our phones where flooded with calls especially in the first days of the special operation.”

 

The signing of the agreement is a formal procedure from the legal viewpoint: the implementation of the exiting projects is ongoing including the provision of help to Ukrainian armed aggression victims. “At present, priority is given to the assistance to our servicemen and members of their families,” the ombudsperson said.

 

The Association of Lawyers of Russia was established in 2005 and currently brings together 35,000 lawyers from 86 regional branches. On November 2022, it set up two regional branches in the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics. The LPR branch was the first in the new Russian regions to be registered by the Russian Justice Ministry.

 

LPR lawyers and the ombudsperson have already set the guidelines for joint work, Tyutyunnikova said.

 

“We’ve been cooperating <...> with the ombudsperson's Office for a year already. We’ve outlined the tasks we’d like to fulfil as part of the Association’s priority to protect the rights and legitimate interests of citizens,” she said. *i*v