Nov 23, 2018 | News
The ICJ is concerned at increasing government interference with the independence of the legal profession, including through intimidation and harassment of the leadership of the National Bar Association and individual lawyers in Kazakhstan.
In the last two months, there have been a series of resignations in the leadership of the National Bar, including Anvar Tugel, ex-President of the National Bar Association who publicly announced that his resignation was the result of “disagreement with the reform proposed by the Ministry of Justice”.
He explained that the “reform” aimed to remove the leadership of the Bar Association.
In his public statement, Tugel points out that several presidents of the local bar associations, faced pressure.
Indeed, Yakubenko Raisa and Vladimir Zolotov presidents of Aktyubinsk and Pavolodar bar associations respectively faced disbarment proceedings in the Kazakhstan courts, initiated by the Ministry of Justice.
The disciplinary charges against them are related to their administration of the bar associations.
He also pointed out that pressure was also exerted on individual lawyers, who had been invited to the Ministry of Justice and instructed which decisions to vote for at the National Conference of delegates of the regional bar associations.
Furthermore, Sergei Sizintsev, the Executive Director of the National Bar Association, has been unexpectedly dismissed from his position following the resignation of Anvar Tugel.
“Instructions about the outcome of the vote, apparently unjustified disciplinary proceedings against high profile lawyers and other such actions constitute interference with the independence of the legal profession and are of concern” Temur Shakirov, ICJ Europe and Central Asia Programme Senior Legal Adviser, said today.
“These developments cannot but create a chilling effect on the lawyers in Kazakhstan, including those independent lawyers who openly spoke against the reform of the legal profession,” he added.
Such measures are inconsistent with international law and standards on the independence of the legal profession, including the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.
The ICJ calls on the State authorities, including the Ministry of Justice, to refrain from interference with the internal matters of the Bar, especially with the election of its governing bodies.
The interim leadership of the National Bar Association should ensure that elections to positions in the governing bodies are fair and transparent and are not a result of inappropriate interference from whatever quarter.
The ICJ will continue to monitor developments regarding the Kazakhstan legal profession, including disbarment proceedings against heads of regional bar associations, and other instances of apparent pressure on lawyers related to their opposition to reforms of the profession earlier criticized by the ICJ.
Background
The UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers state that lawyers are entitled to form and join self-governing professional associations to represent their interests, promote their continuing education and training and protect their professional integrity.
The executive body of the professional associations shall be elected by its members and shall exercise its functions without external interference (Principle 24)
International principles on the role of lawyers also require the State to ensure that neither disciplinary sanctions, nor other measures such as criminal penalties, are unfairly or arbitrarily imposed on lawyers for action taken in accordance with their professional duties, and in accordance with accepted standards of professional conduct, including those enshrined in the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers
According to Principle 16 of the UN Basic Principles it is the obligation of the governments to ensure that lawyers “are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference” and that they do not “suffer, or be threatened with, prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics”.
The Law ‘On the Professional Activities of Advocates and Legal Assistance’ was signed into law on 10 July 2018.
Earlier the ICJ expressed concern in respect to the new law, as contradicting international law and standards on the independence of the legal profession, by enabling the executive to influence or to have control over who is allowed to practice law and substantial influence on disciplinary proceedings against lawyers. Read the full text here.
Read also
ICJ statement following the mission to Kazakhstan on the independence of the legal profession.
Nov 16, 2018 | News
On 15 and 16 November, the ICJ, jointly with the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Azerbaijan Bar Association (ABA), is holding an international conference in Baku on “the Role and Independence of Lawyers: comparative perspectives”.
The conference, which is the first such event on the role and independence of the legal profession organized in the country, aims to bring together perspectives on the governance and role of the legal profession from international experts and representatives of bar associations from a wide range of countries, including the Council of Europe countries, Central Asian as well as representatives of international organizations.
The interventions provide a comparative view on the conditions and requirements that lawyers should comply with while carrying out their professional duty of protection of human rights of their clients.
Participants of the Conference will address in particular the organization and governance of the legal profession, lawyers’ ethics and qualification of lawyers.
Contact:
Temur Shakirov, Senior Legal Adviser, Europe and Central Asia Programme, temur.shakirov@icj.org
Live cast: https://youtu.be/POVlaKXjUrg
Azerbaijan-Conference Independence Lawyers-News-Agenda-2018-ENG (Agenda of the Conference, in PDF)
Nov 14, 2018 | Advocacy, Cases, Legal submissions
The ICJ intervened today before the European Court of Human Rights in the cases of a judge and a scholar that were arrested in the wake of the state of emergency in Turkey.
Mr Hakan Baş is a judge who was dismissed and arrested under emergency legislation following the attempted coup of 15 July 2016.
Mr Seyit Ali Ablak is a teacher and was arrested in 2017 also during the state of emergency declared following the attempted coup.
They claim, among others, the violation of their right to a judicial review of detention under articles 5.3 and 5.4 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
In this intervention, the ICJ addressed the following issues:
- the international legal and normative framework on the independence of the judiciary and the role of judges, in particular in implementation of obligations under articles 5.3 and 5.4 ECHR;
- the current situation of the independence, governance and administration of the judiciary in Turkey, with particular regard to the Council of Judges and Prosecutors and the role of the peace judges, and their conformity with State obligations under articles 5.3 and 5.4 ECHR. The situation will be assessed with reference to the findings of an ICJ mission undertaken in May 2018 and contained in the mission report Justice Suspended.
Turkey-icj-Bas-Advocacy-legal submission-2018-ENG (download the intervention in Baş v. Turkey)
Turkey-icj-Ablak-Advocacy-legal submission-2018-ENG (download the intervention in Ablak v. Turkey)
Nov 9, 2018 | News
Today the ICJ, in co-operation with the Legal Policy Research Centre and the Union of Lawyers of Tajikistan, is holding a regional conference on the independence and role of lawyers, in Dushanbe.
Lawyers from Tajikistan as well as other countries of Central Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Europe will discuss the legal safeguards that should apply to lawyers to ensure that they can defend the human rights of their clients and the role of bar associations in protecting the security and independence of lawyers.
They will consider the role of committees to protect the rights of lawyers, which have been established within the bar associations of several countries in the region, and how these specialized bodies can work most effectively.
A set of recommendations on the protection of lawyers in the region will be produced following the conference.
Contact:
Temur Shakirov, Senior Legal Advisor, Europe and Central Asia Programme, temur.shakirov(a)icj.org
Tajikistan-Lawyers Conference-News-Agenda-2018-ENG (Agenda, in PDF)
Nov 2, 2018 | Advocacy, Cases, Legal submissions
The ICJ intervened today before the European Court of Human Rights in the case of a detained Member of the Turkish Parliament from the HDP party, Ms Burcu Çelik, arrested in 2017 under “terrorism charges”.
In this submission, the ICJ provides the Court with observations concerning the capacity of the Turkish legal system to provide effective remedies for violations under the ECHR with regard to detention, in particular detention of Members of Parliament, in light of its Convention obligations, in particular obligations under Article 5.4.
The ICJ presents its analysis of these aspects of the Turkish legal system based, in part, on information ascertained during a mission to Turkey undertaken in May 2018 and in its report Justice Suspended.
Specifically, the ICJ addresses the question as to whether the remedies of individual application before the Constitutional Court (CC) and under article 141.1 (a) and (d) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP) may be considered as effective in light of the State’s obligations under articles 5.4 and 35.1 ECHR.
Turkey-icj-Celik-Advocacy-legal submission-2018-ENG (download the intervention)
