In addition to high-profile “sanctions” cases of the L&P team in 2023, it is important to point out an unusual case from the firm’s criminal law practice. Alexander Linnikov and Anton Minakov successfully closed a criminal case in which a client of L&P was accused of illegal hunting (Article 258 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Despite the attempts of the body of inquiry to bring the case to a guilty verdict at any cost, the defenders of the accused managed to achieve reconciliation with the victim in the person of the Ministry of Ecology of the Moscow region.
The main problem that the attorneys faced already at the stage of the inquiry was the significant public response of the case and the increased attention to it from the local media, which, without understanding the situation, demanded the most severe punishment for the client of L&P. Despite the voluntary compensation for the alleged harm, the most positive characteristic of the defendant’s personality and the fact that he was accused of committing a minor crime for the first time, the body of inquiry stubbornly prevented reconciliation of the parties.
Alexander Linnikov notes: “In the light of numerous recent examples of criminal prosecution of major politicians and businessmen in similar cases, victims represented by local environmental authorities usually do not agree to reconciliation of the parties, fearing public censure and administrative pressure, and prefer to leave the decision of the fate of the accused to the discretion of the court.”
Despite the many artificial obstacles on the part of the body of inquiry, the defenders at first managed to significantly reduce the amount of damage attributed to the accused. Then, at the stage of sending the case to court, an agreement was reached with the victim on reconciliation in connection with full compensation for the damage caused.
