International Commission of Jurists
Lawyer’s arrest based on planted evidence

Lawyer’s arrest based on planted evidence

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)

 

Tunisie: la grève de la faim de Radhia Nasraoui n’émeut guère les autorités

Tunisie: la grève de la faim de Radhia Nasraoui n’émeut guère les autorités

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)

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