Nov 11, 2003 | News
The ICJ demands the Russian authorities to immediately release a lawyer arrested on 24 October after police planted a firearm in his car.
Mikhail Ivanovich Trepashkin’s arrest and detention prevent him from representing relatives of one of the victims in the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings case.
“Planting evidence and arresting a person on that basis makes a mockery of the rule of law”, said Linda Besharaty-Movaed, ICJ Legal Advisor. “Trepashkin’s unlawful detention demonstrates that Russian lawyers can be arrested for discharging their professional duties”.
Mikhail Ivanovich Trepashkin was arrested on charges of “possession and transportation of an unlicensed firearm” after police officers openly threw a bag that contained a gun into his car.
In 2002, Mikhail Ivanovich Trepashkin worked as a consultant for a commission that investigated the 1999 bombings, which had been exclusively blamed on Chechen insurgents, and found that the Security Service had been complicit in the bombings.
Immediately after he presented his findings, the Military Prosecutor initiated proceedings against Mikhail Ivanovich Trepashkin for “disclosing classified information”. Even though he was indicted, his case laid dormant until September 2003, when a book reproduced some of his findings. Mikhail Ivanovich Trepashkin then won an indefinite postponement of the case from the Supreme Court.
Russia-lawyer arrest-press release-2003 (text, PDF)
Nov 11, 2003 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
The ICJ’s Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers demands the Russian authorities to immediately release a lawyer arrested on 24 October after police planted a firearm in his car.
Nov 6, 2003 | Communiqués de presse, Nouvelles
Le centre pour l’indépendance des juges et avocats (CIMA) de la CIJ exhorte le gouvernement tunisien à cesser le harcèlement de l’éminente avocate de droits de l’homme tunisienne qui a entrepris une grève de la faim pour dénoncer les attaques répétées du gouvernement dont elle fait l’objet.
Radhia Nasraoui, qui en est à son 25ème jour de grève de la faim, représente de nombreux clients dans des cas sensibles de droits de l’homme, y compris des cas de détenus politiques. Ses activités l’ont amenée à subir le harcèlement continu des autorités ces dernières années.
Elle a ainsi fait l’objet de!:
- Agression et voie de fait!
- Menaces contre sa famille, ses clients, et collègues; Saccage de son bureau
- Confiscation de ses ordinateurs et des dossiers de ses clients!
- Entraves à sa liberté de mouvements et à sa liberté d’expression!
- Surveillance de son domicile et de son bureau
- Ecoutes illégales de sa ligne téléphonique.
Tunisia-hunger strike-press release-2003-fra (Communiqué de presse complet en PDF)
Nov 6, 2003 | News
The ICJ urges the Tunisian Government to stop the persecution of a distinguished Tunisian human rights lawyer who is on a hunger strike to denounce repeated Government attacks.
Oct 30, 2003 | News
The ICJ calls for the immediate release of Nepalese lawyer Shyam Kumar Shrestha whose arrest and enforced disappearance violate his right to liberty and security.
The ICJ’s Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers today condemned the arrest and disappearance of Nepalese lawyer, Shyam Kumar Shrestha, and called for his immediate release.
Mr. Shrestha, a member of the Nepal Bar Association, was arrested by security forces at 9:00 pm on 23 October at his home in Bagbazar, Kathmandu. The security forces stated that they were taking Mr. Shrestha to Maharajgunji in Kathmandu for questioning. They then took him away in a taxi without giving any further reasons for his arrest. Calls from the Nepal Bar Association to the Home Ministry and the human rights investigation bodies within the army and the police have not been answered. To date, the reasons for Mr. Shrestha’s abduction remain unknown.
“The arrest and enforced disappearance of Mr. Shrestha constitutes a grave violation of his right to liberty and security”, said Linda Besharaty-Movaed, Legal Advisor of the ICJ’s Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. “He must be immediately released and if any charges are brought against him, they must be in strict conformity with Nepalese law and international human rights standards.”
The ICJ’s Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers conducted a fact-finding mission to Nepal in January 2003. It has denounced the army killings and the increase in the number of disappearances by the security forces and abductions by the Maoists since fighting between the two sides resumed in August.
Nepal-arrest and disappearance lawyer-press release-2003 (text, PDF)
