There is a country in Europe, bordered by three member states of the EU (Latvia, Lithuania and Poland), where lawyers suffer grievously for carrying out their professional duties - Belarus, often called Europe’s last dictatorship.

A few days after the last Belarusian presidential elections in December 2010, the majority of the presidential candidates, the heads of their electoral headquarters, and leaders of the opposition were arrested. Hundreds of participants who had demonstrated peacefully were sentenced to serve various terms. Lawyers from the Minsk City Bar defended many of them.

One of the lawyers who undertook this representation was Pavel Sapelko. He was a member of the Presidency of the Minsk City Bar. He represented three well-known opposition members arrested after demonstrating on the day of the presidential elections, including one of the presidential candidates, Andrei Sannikau. Pavel Sapelko expressed concern to the western media over the mistreatment of his client Sannikau during detention, and was afterwards put under pressure by the Belarusian Ministry of Justice, which launched a campaign against lawyers who defended the unsuccessful presidential candidates.

In March 2011, the Ministry of Justice disbarred Pavel Sapelko. Other lawyers received similar treatment: Oleg and Tatiana Ageev, Vladimir Tolstik, and Tamara Goraeva. Both Oleg Ageev and Tatiana Ageeva were members of the Presidency of the Minsk City Bar. Oleg Ageev defended Ales Michalevich, one of the presidential candidates, who after being released from prison made a statement about the treatment he had suffered. Vladimir Tolstik and Tamara Goraeva defended a journalist Irina Halip. Another lawyer, Valentina Busko, was disbarred for participating in a peaceful assembly against the falsification of the election results. Later on, Tamara Sidorenko and Vladimir Bukshtynov, the lawyers for Vladimir Nekliaev, another presidential candidate, were disbarred.

Some months later, a new law on the bar was adopted, which allowed the government to change the bar into an association fully controlled by the state.

Today, Pavel Sapelko works as a consultant for the Human Right Centre "Viasna" (Spring) and, together with his colleagues, supports victims of the regime and their families. Viasna has to work as an underground organisation due to the difficult political situation where government authorities refuse to grant it the status of association, required by a new law. I understand that the Belarusian authorities have now ordered Viasna to vacate its premises – but apparently it will continue its activities all the same.

The organisation for which I work, the Council of Bars and Law Societies (CCBE), gave its annual Human Rights Award to Pavel Sapelko a few days ago. He accepted it on behalf of all the lawyers who were disbarred in circumstances similar to his own. He said in his acceptance speech: ‘The events of 19 December 2011 put an end to my hopes that democratic changes could be possible in a single institution within a non-democratic state.’

This should be a reminder to us, as we squabble over alternative business structures, legal aid rates and other domestic issues, that there are even more important matters we are lucky to take for granted: the right to represent any client, even one strongly opposed to the government, without the risk of disbarment. Let us gain perspective, even if only once a year, and salute a colleague who has suffered for our profession.

Jonathan Goldsmith is secretary general of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, which represents about one million European lawyers through its member bars and law societies. He blogs weekly for the Gazette on European affairs