Daily Archives: 23/03/2021

The Philippines: Supreme Court condemns violence against judges, lawyers; vows to provide security for those under threat

Sem categoria 23/03/2021 Leave a comment

23/03/21

The Supreme Court has condemned acts of violence committed against judges and lawyers, and outlined a plan of action to end the threats and killings against them.

“The Judiciary is one of the three pillars of our republican democracy, which itself hangs on a careful balance between and among governmental powers. To threaten our judges and our lawyers is no less an assault on the judiciary. To assault the judiciary is to shake the very bedrock on which the rule of law stands,” Supreme Court spokesperson Brian Hosaka said on Tuesday.

“The Court condemns in the strongest sense every instance where a lawyer is threatened or killed, and where a judge is threatened and unfairly labeled,” he added.

The statement from the Supreme Court en banc read by Hosaka also said among the measures to be taken was to provide security for judges or justices who have been threatened.

“We have coordinated with all concerned to provide security and counseling to the judges concerned. The court is ready to provide or coordinate security arrangements for any judge or justice that is similarly threatened,” he said.

Hosaka added the office of Court Administrator has been ordered to conduct a survey among trial courts and Sharia judges about the extent of threats they have received in the last 10 years.

[…]

https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/3/23/supreme-court-violence-judges-lawyers.html

https://www.rappler.com/nation/supreme-court-looks-institutional-change-protect-lawyers-after-pressure

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-rights/philippines-supreme-court-condemns-rise-of-violence-against-of-lawyers-idUSKBN2BF1J1

https://www.philstar.com/happens/516

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/23/21/in-rare-move-supreme-court-condemns-killings-threats-vs-lawyers-judges

Moment of reckoning

https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/

list-of-lawyers-legal-workers-killed-duterte-3-march-2021-1-7Download

Burma: A network of concerned lawyers and academics has signed a Statement in Support of the Myanmar Legal Community

Sem categoria 23/03/2021 Leave a comment

23/03/21

Burmese community protests Myanmar military coup – AsAmNews

During Myanmar’s gradual process of democratization since 2011 there has been increasing cooperation between the Myanmar lawyers, judges, legal academics, and judges with the global community. Throughout this time, many legal experts have worked with Myanmar professionals in developing the rule of law, strengthening institutions and legal education. People working in the Myanmar legal system have led this process and real change was underway. However, all this work was disrupted, and potentially destroyed, because of the military coup on February 1, 2021. Since the coup many Myanmar professionals have been reaching out to the international community to express their willingness to fight peacefully for the democratic legal system they are building, and to ask for support in doing this.

This Statement, signed by over 350 legal professionals across the world, expresses grave concerns about the treatment of lawyers by the Myanmar military regime since the coup on 1 February. Myanmar lawyers cannot represent their clients, because there is no cooperation from the police and the courts have ceased to function. Lawyers have been denied access to people who are detained. Some lawyers have been arrested without warrant. Students have been arrested and lecturers threatened.

The Statement calls for justice, and repercussions for those involved in the illegal attacks on the legal community.

[…]

 IN SOLIDARITY 

Around 350 academics and human rights advocates pledged their support and raised their voices against authoritarian rule and democratic backsliding in Burma/Myanmar. We continue to stand with the people and resist any more harms against them and the spirit of democracy! #whatshappeninginMyanmar #StandWithMyanmar.

A network of concerned lawyers and academics has signed a Statement in Support of the Myanmar Legal Community

https://news.yahoo.com/eu-sanctions-11-myanmar-military-071239230.html

Nicaragua: Rights lawyer Yonarqui Martinez arbitrarily arrested and detained

Sem categoria 23/03/2021 Leave a comment

22/03/21

Human rights defenders, journalists, peasants and former political prisoners, denounced a new wave of repression from the Ortega regime through the police and fanatics of the Sandinista Front, who continue to carry out sieges, arrests, criminalization, threats and prohibit political meetings.

The complaints registered on social networks and media outlets include the obstruction of the mobilization of a group of peasants who were heading from Rivas to Managua. The arbitrary detention of defense lawyer Yonarqui Martinez and threats against journalist Jennifer Ortiz. The obstructing of the work of journalist Geraldine Dominguez, the arrest of former political prisoner Marlon Castellon and the criminalization of the political prisoners Yorling Robles and Oscar Amador.

[…]

Police detain defense lawyer

On March 18, lawyer and human rights activist Yonarqui Martinez also denounced her arbitrary detention by police officers. They prevented her from embarking for the island of Ometepe, where she would visit former political prisoner Justo Rodriguez.

“I was being investigated, supposedly, for carrying drugs. My only crime is to defend the human rights of Justo Rodriguez,” said the lawyer through her social networks. She published photographs of the medicines and milk that she was carrying for the former political prisoner of the Daniel Ortega regime.

The Mesoamerican Initiative for Women Human Rights Defenders joined Martinez’s complaint by issuing an alert. It underscored that the officers had “illegally detained” and “violated the lawyer’s right of free movement.”

[…]

Nicaraguans Face a New Wave of Repression
[WHRD Alert] NICARAGUA / Ometepe police illegally detain defender and lawyer Yonarqui Martínez and violate her right to freedom of movement.

https://www.despacho505.com/policia-orteguista-impide-al-reo-politico-justo-rodriguez-recibir-medicina/ (ESPANOL)

https://www.laprensa.com.ni/2021/03/18/politica/2798500-policia-asedia-en-ometepe-a-la-abogada-yonarqui-martinez-cuando-llevaba-medicamentos-a-don-justo-rodriguez

Policía orteguista retiene a abogada Yonarqui Martínez en la Isla de Ometepe
«Voy a seguir trabajando a pesar de la actuación en contra de los defensores de los presos políticos»