Defend the defenders of peoples' rights
August 5, 2017
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-40838378
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/05/americas/venezuela-attorney-general/index.html
http://www.weny.com/story/36069654/venezuela-troops-bar-attorney-general-ortega-from-office
http://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/assembleia-constituinte-da-venezuela-destitui-procuradora-geral.ghtml (PORTUGUES)
August 4, 2017
A Russian court extended probation for opposition leader Alexei Navalny by one year Friday, a sentence that should bar him from running for office until at least 2021.
Navalny, who rose to prominence with his investigations of official corruption, spearheaded a series of anti-corruption protests across Russia this year, the most wide-spread in decades.
He wants to run for president of Russia next year and has been signing up campaign volunteers even though he technically is ineligible as a candidate. He says banning him from office is illegal and he’s campaigning to put pressure on authorities.
A lawyer by training, Navalny was convicted of fraud in 2013 and 2014 after trials that supporters characterized as politically motivated.
He was given a 5-year suspended prison sentence along with 1½ years’ probation this year after a retrial of one of the cases.
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http://expressnewsline.com/2017/08/04/russian-opposition-leader-navalny-calls-prosecution-a.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/putin-critic-alexei-navalny-thinks-theres-a-5050-chance-hell-be-killed/
https://themoscowtimes.com/news/navalny-fined-5000-over-political-fliers-58580
https://www.ft.com/content/c4e106a0-72bb-11e7-93ff-99f383b09ff9
August 4, 2017
A state prosecutor in Tajikistan has reportedly asked the courts to extend the sentence of Buzurgmehr Yorov, a lawyer convicted last year, again — this time by 17 years for additional fraud and insulting the leader of the nation.
According to Asia-Plus, because of a legal restriction on how long a defendant can be sentenced — 30 years — if the new case results in a conviction, Yorov would get at most 5 more years.
Yorov was arrested in September 2015. Tajik authorities accused Yorov and another lawyer, Nuriddin Mahkamov, of fraud and forgery, and then heaped on additional crimes: inciting ethnic enmity, calling for the otherthrow of the government, support of extremist activity.
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The state’’s critics pointed out that the lawyers’ real crime was agreeing to represent the leadership of the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRPT), who had been arrested in a broad sweep in September 2015. The IRPT leadership were sentenced to long prison terms — two to life — and so were their lawyers. In October 2016, Yorov was handed a 23-year sentence.
A few months later, prosecutors asked to extend his term because of his reading of an 11th century poem in court during his first trial. He was charged with contempt of court and insulting a government official. Farangis Najibullah, of RFE/RL, explained the incident:
As he sat in the dock during a court hearing in October, Yorov read out a stanza from a classic poem by the Persian poet Omar Khayyam.
The passage goes something like this:
With these ignorant few who foolishly
Consider themselves the intelligent ones of the world
Should be donkeys, because they are so deep in donkeyness
That they call “blasphemous” whomever is not a donkey
Eyewitnesses who were present in the Dushanbe courtroom say the reading led to a heated exchange between the defendant and the prosecutor.
Yorov was convicted and two more years added to his sentence.
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http://thediplomat.com/2017/08/in-tajikistan-lawyer-buzurgmehr-yorov-faces-even-more-charges/
August 5, 2017
An unidentified gunman shot and killed a judge and injured his wife in Butuan City on Saturday, according to police.
Judge Godofredo Abul, Jr., 68, and his wife Bernadette, were about to leave their home in Alviola Village in Baan when the shooting took place, a report from the Butuan City Police Station 4 in Ampayon released to The Manila Times said.
The police report said that Judge Abul died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds while his wife, 65, who was rushed to a hospital in Butuan City, three kilometers west of Alviola Village, was in serious condition. The suspect fled to an unknown destination.
Witnesses told police that the motorcycle gunman about 5’3” in height was wearing a black shirt and a black bullcap and waited for the couple to come out of their residence.
Police said the gunman reportedly shot theAbduls just as their car came out of the gate.
Police investigators, led by PO3 Leoben Salarda, are still trying to establish the motive of the shooting and the identity of the suspect.
Witnesses told the police that Judge Abul was handling several anti-illegal drug cases.
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http://www.manilatimes.net/update-butuan-judge-shot-dead-wife-seriously-wounded-police/342565/
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/regions/620779/butuan-rtc-judge-shot-dead-wife-wounded/story/
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/local-news/2017/08/05/judge-killed-butuan-city-556927
http://www.interaksyon.com/butuan-rtc-judge-killed-by-motorcycle-tandem-riding-hit-man/
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/920745/pimentel-sc-justices-condemn-judges-killing-in-butuan
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2017/08/06/sc-outraged-over-killing-butuan-judge-556946
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/920807/ibp-godofredo-abul-jr
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/920841/sc-outraged-by-killing-of-judge-godofredo-abul-jr
http://www.philstar.com/opinion/2017/08/07/1725968/editorial-dangerous-streets
August 4, 2017
Respected Human Rights Advocate, Lawyer Francis Xavier Sosu believes the biggest hindrance to human rights in Africa is ignorance.
According to him, Africans have been reduced to begging for their rights because they do not understand that they are entitled to it.
“The reason why we keep begging for those rights is because we do not know that they are fundamental human rights,” he said.
It is typical for communities to send high profile delegations to the Presidency to beg for development or plead with a visiting leader for development projects.
TV screens in Africa are constantly awashed with citizens begging for one amenity or the other with the media dedicating a significant portion of airtime and space to drawing attention to the flagrant disregard of this right.
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August 4, 2017
The Indian Association of People’s Lawyers has demanded the immediate and unconditional release of jailed Madurai-based advocate A. Murugan, who was arrested by the ‘Q’ Branch police in Tamil Nadu in January this year for his alleged links with Maoists.
Releasing a report here on Friday based on their preliminary enquiries, IAPL alleged that Mr. Murugan was framed in a fabricated case for discharging his duty as an advocate.
Arun Ferreira, Treasurer of IAPL, who himself was jailed for more than four years for alleged links with Maoists before a court in Maharashtra acquitted him in 2014, said that the case against Mr. Murugan was perhaps the first instance in the country where an advocate was booked in the same case he was appearing for his clients.
Stating that Article 19 (1)(g) of the Constitution provided lawyers the right to practice their profession, he said that lawyers, as a result of discharging the duty their profession demanded, cannot be identified with the causes their clients espoused.
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http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/arrest-flayed/article19429197.ece
New Indian Express, Madurai edition dated 5th August 2017
August 4, 2017
The İstanbul 11th Penal Court of Peace on Friday rejected an objection to the arrest of eight human rights defenders who were put in pretrial detention by an İstanbul court on July 18 after being detained during a workshop on İstanbul’s Büyükada.
The court ruled for the continuation of the pretrial detention of the human rights defenders, including Amnesty International (AI) Turkey Director İdil Eser, claiming that the evidence was adequate for the continuation of the arrests.
Turkey’s arrest of human rights activists received much criticism from European Union countries, further endangering Turkey’s membership accession and weakening its ties with Europe.
Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the human rights defenders of plotting a follow-up to a July 15, 2016 coup attempt, during a press conference on July 8.
İstanbul’s Adalar Chief Prosecutor’s Office has issued detention warrants for four human rights defenders who were released on judicial probation on Tuesday after they were detained along with six others on July 5 during a workshop on İstanbul’s Büyükada. Detention warrants were issued for Nalan Erkem, Şeyhmus Özbekli, Nejat Taştan and İlknur Üstün.
Six human rights activists, including Amnesty International’s (AI) Turkey director İdil Eser, who were detained on July 5 during a workshop at a hotel on İstanbul’s Büyükada, were put in pre-trial arrest by an İstanbul court on Tuesday. The court however ordered the release of the four on judicial probation and banned them from international travel.
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https://stockholmcf.org/istanbul-court-rejects-objection-to-arrest-of-human-rights-defenders/
http://takeaction.amnesty.ca/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1770&ea.campaign.id=72390&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=FBpostFreeIdil (TAKE ACTION NOW!)
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