Sep 26, 2011 | News
The ICJ is urging the Members of the House of Representatives to dismiss the draft legislation on evidence in criminal trials which could exacerbate further the already dramatic delays in Italian judicial proceedings.
The legislation would eliminate the possibility for a judge to reject the admission of “superfluous” and even “manifestly superfluous” evidence, allowing the parties to a case to call an almost infinite number of witnesses, and potentially delaying the case indefinitely. It also would make it unduly difficult to incorporate previous final rulings on the same case as prima facie evidence of the facts in the proceedings.”
Italy-length-criminal-trial-web story-2011-eng (full text in English, PDF)
Italy-length-criminal-trial-web story-2011-ita (full text in Italian, PDF)
Jul 19, 2011 | News
The ICJ today expressed its concern at the move by the Italian Government to extend the maximum length of administrative detention for undocumented migrants to up to 18 months.
The measure is contained in certain provisions of the draft legislation ratifying Law Decree no. 89 of 2011, approved on 14 July by the House of Representatives and now under consideration by the Senate, which aims at implementing EU Directive 2008/115/EC (“the Return Directive”).
Italy-migrant rights-press release-2011-eng (full text in English, PDF)
Italy-migrant rights-press release-2011-ita (full text in Italian, PDF)
May 19, 2011 | News
The ICJ today expressed its concern at the recent attack on a lawyer involved in a high profile case in Moscow.
On 13 May, Elena Levina, a Russian lawyer representing Mikhail Khodorkovsky in the appeal of his conviction on charges of theft of almost 350 million tons of oil and money laundering, was attacked as she was returning home late at night.
Russian Federation-Russian authorities-investigate an attack against lawyer-press release-2011-eng (full text in English, PDF)
Russian Federation-Russian authorities-investigate an attack against lawyer-press release-2011-rs (full text in Russian, PDF)
Apr 27, 2011 | News
On April 21, the ICJ observed an appeal hearing at the cassation instance of St. Petersburg City Court.
ICJ Commissioner Gulnora Ishankhanova and Russian lawyer Maxim Timofeyev acted as the ICJ observers.
Russian Federation-appeal hearing-St. Petersburg-web story-2011-eng (full text in English, PDF)
Russian Federation-appeal hearing-St. Petersburg-web story-2011-rus ( full text in Russian, PDF)
Apr 15, 2011 | Events
On 18 April, the ICJ will hold a workshop on migration and human rights in Europe where it will explore the situation of the asylum system at the EU level and in certain EU Member States.
This comes after the issuance of the judgment in the caseM.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece by the European Court of Human Rights. The workshop will gather national and international lawyers, NGOs, and EU officials in the Brussels office ofFreshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LPP.
Non-refoulement-Europe-event-2011 (full text, PDF)
Non-refoulement-Europe-summary of the workshop-event-2011 (full text, PDF)
Jan 12, 2011 | News
The ICJ today expressed its concern at the increasing instances of harassment and persecution of lawyers in Belarus following the recent suppression of protests at the outcome of the presidential elections.
The attacks include the initiation and endorsement of disbarment proceedings against lawyers by the Ministry of Justice and attempts to stifle their exercise of freedom of expression.
Belarus-harassment-lawyers-news-2011 (full text, PDF)
Belarus-harassment-lawyers-news-2011-rus (full text in Russia, PDF)