A Moscow district court recently issued a ruling that makes you think carefully about how “free speech” actually works in the Russian system.
The case: a lawyer tried to have a review removed from Yandex Maps, where she had been called “underqualified,” “rude,” and “shameless.” The court refused. The logic is airtight: “bad lawyer” is not a fact — it is an evaluative opinion. And since it is an opinion, it cannot be tested for truth.
Colleagues, you will have to live with it. It is the client’s subjective view.
The theatre of the absurd: selective moderation on Yandex Maps
And here is where the contrast becomes extraordinary.
When a client writes “you are a hack and a fraud” — that is freedom of speech. When I, a lawyer with 23 years of experience, try to publish a factual account of what goes on inside a court — moderation says no.
I wrote a post responding to advocate Sergei Zhorin. Not a word of it was false — everything is documented in the records from twelve of my cases and six years of practice. I wrote about how, in regional courts, a judge can drink coffee openly during a hearing. About how a party’s legal position gets described as “a Jewish approach.” About how the Supreme Court is absorbed in high-profile celebrity cases while ordinary people’s complaints are rejected without being read.
Facts, documentation, lived experience. Publication blocked.
Why selective moderation destroys trust in the justice system
The system’s problem is its selectivity.
When a professional speaks about real gaps in the law, filtering and removal kick in. When a member of the public heaps abuse on a lawyer online, the system cheerfully protects that person’s rights.
Trust in the justice system is not built by legitimising unfounded personal attacks on lawyers. It comes from courtrooms where the letter of the law prevails — not back-channel arrangements.
While the system protects “subjective opinion” about a rude lawyer but looks away from a judge sipping coffee during proceedings, any conversation about free speech cannot be an honest one.