The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has renewed its call for the immediate release of Buzurgmehr Yorov, an imprisoned Tajikistan lawyer, and expressed deep concern over his recent additional sentencing. This follows the decision by Vahdat city court on 10 July 2023 to add an extra ten years to Yorov’s existing sentence, accusing him of large-scale fraud.
Today, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), in cooperation with the Regional Office for Central Asia (ROCA) of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Bar Association of the Republic of Tajikistan, has convened a roundtable discussion on the importance of preserving the independence and security of lawyers in Tajikistan.
At the final stage of the event, participants will formulate a robust set of recommendations. These recommendations will encapsulate the perspectives garnered throughout the event, strengthening the efforts to bolster the independence and security of lawyers in Tajikistan. The participants stressed the need for ongoing dialogue and collaboration involving the Bar Association and independent lawyers to address these issues.
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Agenda in English Round table on independence and security of lawyers in Tajikistan_eng
Lawyers for Lawyers, the Bar Human Rights Committee, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Committee (IBAHRI), International Commission of Jurists, the Law Society of England and Wales, and Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) are concerned about the ongoing violations of fair trial rights in the ongoing trial of Sri Lankan lawyer and human rights defender Hejaaz Hizbullah. Key witnesses have been subject to threat, coercion, intimidation and arrest.
The full statement can be read here.
On 19 June 2023, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the European Council for Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), and the AIRE Centre have submitted a joint third-party intervention before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case of V.M. and Others v. Poland. The case concerns the detention of a child and her family seeking asylum in Poland. The application concerns the on-going detention of V.M. and her two minor children (born in 2012 and in 2015), Armenian nationals, at a guarded centre for foreigners, pending their asylum and deportation proceedings. The applicants were detained upon arrival. V.M., who was pregnant with twins at the time suffered a miscarriage three weeks after their detention took place.
Read the full text of the intervention here.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and its partners (Human Rights in Practice, Free Courts, aditus and Forum for Human Rights) organized a workshop on Institutional independence of the judiciary and autonomy of the prosecution service, on 13-14 June 2023 in Brussels.
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