Daily Archives: 19/02/2021

Romania: Robert Roșu Continues to be Persecuted for Simply Exercising His Profession

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18/02/21

Scandalul condamnării avocatului Robert Roșu, pe masa Uniunii Barourilor

The UIA-IROL is expressing its grave concern on the case of Robert Roșu. 

In 2016, we previously protested the circumstances surrounding the search at the head offices of the law firm of Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii on December 8, 2015 by officers of the National Anticorruption Directorate (NAD.) That search was followed by the arrest on December 10, 2015 of Mr. Robert Roșu, a partner at Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii.

In our previous statement, we recalled the core principles around protection of confidentiality and the conditions under which searches of lawyers’ offices may be carried out [1].

Today we note that our colleague Mr. Roșu, as well as the legal profession continues to find itself under attack in Romania.

It is our understanding that Robert Roșu has just recently been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, being found guilty simply for having exercised his profession. He is currently in prison based on a court decision which has been denounced by the representatives of the legal profession and a significant number of colleagues as wrong and abusive.

Previously, Mr. Roșu, having been charged in 2015 with alleged crimes of corruption and placed under house arrest for three months, was finally released by a judge of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the highest court in Romania. All of the acts and deeds the prosecution considered “criminal” in his case were determined by the judges of the High Court of Cassation and Justice as activities typical of the exercise of the legal profession, falling within the limits of the activities normally carried out by a lawyer. By a decision dated March 11, 2016, the house arrest was therefore invalidated.

[…]

https://www.uianet.org/fr/actions/robert-rosu-continues-be-persecuted-simply-exercising-his-profession

Click to access uia-irol_statement_robert_rosu_210218.pdf

https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/romanian-justice-system-controversy-after-lawyers-conviction/
Ca urmare a cazului ”Robert Roșu”, CCBE s-a adresat CSM, MJ și PG cu privire la exercitarea liberă a profesiei de avocat
(ROMANA)

https://evz.ro/reactii-internationale-la-condamnarea-avocatului-robert-rosu.html

https://evz.ro/unbr-condamnarea-avocatului-robert-rosu.html

https://www.capital.ro/un-cunoscut-avocat-a-fost-condamnat-la-inchisoare-pentru-ca-si-a-exercitat-profesia.html

FRANCAIS:

Click to access UIA_Letter_UNBR_210212_FR.pdf

Haiti: Deux avocats enlevés en 24 heures, la basoche s’insurge

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18/02/21

Deux avocats ont été enlevés en l’espace de 24 heures. Mes Nasha Saint-Fleur et Abbias Edumé ont été kidnappés respectivement les 16 et 17 février 2021. La basoche se dit révoltée face à ce fléau qui touche ses membres. Mes Nasha Saint-Fleur et Abbias Edumé sont respectivement avocats au barreau de Port-au-Prince et de Petit-Goâve.

L’avocate Nasha Saint-Fleur a été kidnappée dans la matinée du mardi 16 février 2021 à Babiole, quartier de Port-au-Prince. Me Saint-Fleur collabore au programme d’assistance légale qui vise à favoriser l’accès à la justice aux personnes financièrement précaires. Jeudi, le journal a appris l’enlèvement de Me Abbias Edumé, avocat au barreau de Petit-Goâve, ancien substitut commissaire du gouvernement de Petit-Goâve, de Mirebalais et de Croix-des-Bouquets. Professeur d’université, l’homme de loi, frère du juge d’instruction Ikenson Edumé, a été également kidnappé à Port-au-Prince.

Ces enlèvements suivis de séquestration dont est témoin la population révoltent le barreau de Port-au-Prince notamment. Dans une note signée de Rose-Berthe Augustin, bâtonnière a.i., l’ordre des avocats de cette juridiction souligne que c’est avec une grande émotion et un légitime sentiment de révolte que le conseil de l’ordre des avocats de Port-au-Prince a accueilli la nouvelle de l’enlèvement de Me Nasha Saint-Fleur.

« Le Conseil s’insurge contre la hausse du phénomène d’enlèvement suivi de séquestration dont la population est régulièrement victime et qui frappe aujourd’hui un membre de la basoche », proteste le conseil de l’ordre des avocats de Port-au-Prince. De surcroit, ledit conseil appelle les autorités policières à mener les opérations idoines en vue de libérer l’avocate de ses ravisseurs. Les avocats restent sur leurs gardes. « Tout en exprimant sa pleine et entière solidarité à Me Nasha Saint-Fleur et à sa famille, le Conseil se déclare en veille permanente », lit-on dans la note.

Pour les robes noires, « cette nouvelle atteinte à un membre du barreau de Port-au-Prince est une occasion supplémentaire pour rappeler à tous les avocats et à la société en général la nécessité de combattre l’insécurité et ses promoteurs dans la perspective d’établir un État de droit véritable en Haïti ».

[…]

https://lenouvelliste.com/article/226486/deux-avocats-enleves-en-24-heures-la-basoche-sinsurge/amp

Me Nasha Saint-Fleur kidnappée, $400 000 exigés en échange de sa libération

Kidnapping: Le Barreau de P-au-P exige la libération de sa consœur Nasha SAINT-FLEUR.
Haiti-Kidnapping: Le Barreau de Port-au-Prince exige la libération de Me Nasha Saint-FLEUR
Le conseil de l’Ordre des Avocats de Port-au-Prince exige la libération de Me Nasha Saint-Fleur

http://www.lenational.org/post_free.php?elif=1_CONTENUE/actualitees&rebmun=7583

Haïti : Les cas de kidnapping se poursuivent à Port-au-Prince

Belarus: ‘There’s no justice in a dictatorship’: How a political crisis exposed Belarus’ rule of law problem

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02/02/21

Personal archive

[…]

“I made remarks [to the press] on the unprecedented violence used by the police and security forces against peaceful protestors; on the state inaction in stopping violence; on the inaction of law enforcement in situations when there were clear grounds for initiating criminal investigations; on the powers of the law enforcement officials that could have been used to prevent violence and hold the perpetrators accountable,” Pylchenko told Euronews.

Pylchenko has been a lawyer in the Belarusian justice system for 30 years. But those fateful remarks have changed that.

Just before Christmas, the Ministry of Justice”s Qualification Commission held a hearing in which Pylchenko was disbarred.

But the 55-year-old is not the only within his industry to have been targeted.

Maxim Znak and Ilya Salei are the lawyers of prominent opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava, who had initially managed the election campaign of Viktor Babariko, who had wanted to challenge Lukashenko in the August presidential poll. But, when he was arrested before the election, stopping him from running, Kalesnikava joined forces with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. After the disputed vote, Kalesnikava was detained after refusing to leave the country.

Znak and Salei, like their client, were arrested, too, on the basis of “actions aimed at causing harm to the national security of the Republic of Belarus”. They are two of 187 people that human rights NGO Viasna (Spring) consider political prisoners.

‘No independent judges under a dictatorship’

While some may link the disbarring and arrests to a post-election crackdown on opposition to Lukashenko — which has seen protesters, journalists and even musicians targeted — others believe it exposes a long-term problem in Belarus.

“I do not think that we should use August as a starting point for these cases, similar episodes happened before,” said Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou, a professor of human rights law at the University of Liverpool. “The trend is much broader than these three cases and although in many instances the authorities do not go as far as licence revocation there are plenty of examples of censorship, influence and hostility towards defence lawyers working in the so-called political cases.”

[…]

https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/02/there-s-no-justice-in-a-dictatorship-how-a-political-crisis-exposed-belarus-rule-of-law-pr

They want to revoke Mikhail Kirilyuk lawyer’s license

https://charter97.org/en/news/2021/2/18/411913/

Review of the fight against «extremism» in Belarus for November-December 2020

Sri Lanka produces long-held prominent rights lawyer in court

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18/02/21

Image result for hejaaz hizbullah

Sri Lanka’s prominent human rights lawyer Hejaz Hezbullah, who has been detained for over 10 months for alleged links in the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attack, was on Thursday presented in a court for the first time since his detention, a move his lawyers believe has been taken ahead of a UN session focussing on the country’s human rights record.

The magistrate’s court remanded Hezbullah until March 3 after charging him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the international covenant on civil and political rights (ICCPR), his lawyers said.

The court appearance comes ahead of next week’s UNHRC sessions where Sri Lanka’s human rights accountability record is to come under focus, they said.

Hezbullah was arrested in April last year for alleged links in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings carried out by a local jihadi group. The police alleged that Hezbullah had aided and abetted the Easter Sunday bombings.

Nine suicide bombers belonging to Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels on April 21, 2019, killing 258 people, including 11 Indians.

Hezbullah was not given access to his lawyers or the family during the detention. He was also not produced in the court during this time and held without a charge despite international pressure from European Union, Amnesty International and other right.

[…]

https://in.news.yahoo.com/lanka-produces-long-held-prominent-151331993.html

http://www.adaderana.lk/news/71676/hejaaz-hizbullah-and-mohamed-shakeel-remanded

Hejaaz Hizbullah brought to court after 10 months

Hejaaz Hizbullah and due process

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/02/sri-lanka-government-suffocating-dissent-and-obstructing-justice-for-historic-crimes-says-amnesty-report/

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/sri-lanka-government-obstructing-justice-historic-crimes-new-report

https://www.amnesty.org/fr/latest/news/2021/02/sri-lanka-government-suffocating-dissent-and-obstructing-justice-for-historic-crimes-says-amnesty-report/ (FRANCAIS)

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