Zimbabwe: ICJ welcomes the acquittal of Joana Mamombe and Cecelia Revai Chimbiri by the high court on criminal charges of communicating false statements related to their abduction, torture and sexual assault
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) welcomes the judgment of the Harare High Court which has acquitted human rights activists Joana Mamombe and Cecelia Revai Chimbiri following their arrest on 10 June 2020. The case reviewed magistrate Faith Mashure’s decision to charge the women for “publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State”, or alternatively, “defeating or obstructing the course of justice”. The high court held that the magistrate’s finding of a prima facie case against the human rights activists was grossly unreasonable and attributed to bias and mala fides.
Russian Federation: Bring to justice those responsible for the violent assault on lawyers and human rights defenders
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today condemned a series of violent assaults against lawyers and a journalist in the Russian Federation.
The assaults targeted lawyer Alexander Nemov and Yelena Milashina, a journalist of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta in Chechnya, followed by another attack on lawyer Elena Ponomareva in Moscow. They are part of a worrying broader pattern of violence against persons for carrying out their important professional functions as lawyers and journalists.
Vietnam: Stop the arbitrary arrest and detention of environmental human rights defenders
Today, the ICJ and nine other human rights and environmental organizations express grave concern over the recent arbitrary arrest, detention, and silencing of several environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) speaking out against harmful business operations supported by the government.
The arrest of environmentalist Hoang Thi Minh Hong, her husband and two staff members on 31 May 2023 on trumped-up charges of tax evasion is just another case in the increased targeting of EHRDs in Vietnam.
Southeast Asia: governments must act to counter abusive lawsuits brought by businesses targeting human rights and public interest advocates (SLAPPs)
“Business enterprises continue to use their clout to nullify the work of human rights and public interest advocates through abusive lawsuits (SLAPPs) and far more needs to be done by governments to protect against this practice,” said the panelists during the forum titled ‘Addressing SLAPPs Against Human Rights Defenders in South-East Asia: Challenges and Lessons Learned’ on 9 June 2023.
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