Posted on

¿QUÉ ESTÁ HACIENDO EL ESTADO ESPAÑOL CON EL BARCO DE OPEN ARMS?

Nadie en Europa puede decir que desconoce la situación de vulnerabilidad extrema en que se encuentran las personas migrantes que se trasladan desde países de Oriente próximo y África hasta Europa, debido a las situaciones de guerra y/o crisis humanitaria que sufren. El drama de los/as refugiados/as, que ha convertido el mar Mediterráneo en un cementerio, ha supuesto una crisis en la concepción de Europa como un espacio común fundado sobre valores de dignidad humana, igualdad y solidaridad, y nos ha obligado a todos a cuestionar el papel de Europa en el mundo.Ni las instituciones europeas ni los Estados Miembros han estado a la altura, e incluso algún estado está manteniendo posturas inadmisibles desde la perspectiva de los Derechos Humanos, como pasa con el VicePresidente Salvini en Italia. Efectivamente, han surgido iniciativas que pretenden convertir, fraudulentamente, la crisis humanitaria que sufrimos en un problema de orden público. Evitar la muerte de cientos de personas no es una mera cuestión de orden público ni puede serlo. Construir muros y sellar las fronteras, separando pueblos y despojando a las personas migrantes de su dignidad, no es una respuesta admisible desde la perspectiva de Derechos Humanos. Además, estas políticas exponen al/la migrante a los peligros de elegir cada vez rutas más inseguras, favorecen la aparición de las mafias y su consecuencia más cruda es el naufragio de miles de personas en nuestro mar mediterráneo.

Es esa decepcionante actitud de las instituciones europeas y de los estados miembros de la Unión Europea la que ha provocado que organizaciones como Open Arms intervenga con acciones esenciales de vigilancia y salvamento, salvando miles de vidas en el mar. Estas organizaciones se na puesto, por ello, en el punto de mira de la opinión pública, y también dentro de los objetivos represivos de algunos Estados, que han intentado, también fraudulentamente, criminalizar su actuación. Recientemente el barco de Open Arms llegó a España con 310 personas rescatadas, pues los países más cercanos al lugar de rescate (Italia, Malta) incumplieron sus obligaciones internacionales y negaron el acceso a sus puertos a Open Arms.

El día 8 de enero de 2019 el barco de Open Arms debió haber salido del puerto de Barcelona rumbo a la zona SAR de Libia para continuar con su labor esencial de salvar vidas. Sin embargo Capitanía Marítima, dependiente del Ministerio de Fomento, ha bloqueado el buque en el puerto de Barcelona alegando que pese a no ser imputable al propio barco, con su último regreso a España se incumplieron diversos preceptos de la normativa marítima. Como medida preventiva y para evitar futuros incumplimientos, deniega la salida hasta que no se garantice que existe un acuerdo para el desembarco de los auxiliados con las autoridades responsables de las zonas SAR concernidas, algo que difícilmente ocurrirá, pues ni Italia, ni Libia, ni Malta facilitan estos acuerdos.

Tenemos que volver a poner de manifiesto, en voz alta y clara, que es el incumplimiento habitual del resto de países de su deber de auxilio lo que está en el origen del problema, que no es otro que las muertes en el mar. No puede atribuirse ningún incumplimiento normativo a quien precisamente presta ese auxilio, porque el derecho a la vida ha de priorizarse siempre respecto de cualquier normativa marítima. Con el bloqueo del buque no está en juego únicamente su derecho a navegar sino que se pone en riesgo la vida de las personas migrantes a quienes rescata Open Arms ante la pasividad de quienes están obligados a actuar en virtud del derecho internacional humanitario.

Por ello reclamamos que no se obstaculice la labor humanitaria del buque Open Arms anclado en el puerto de Barcelona y exigimos que los incumplimientos de terceros Estados sean denunciados por el Gobierno de España al órgano competente para su sanción, y que, entretanto, colabore activamente con el respeto de los derechos humanos y contribuya a solucionar la crisis humanitaria en que estamos inmersos, en vez de impedir la labor de quienes salvan vidas en el mar.

Barcelona, 18 de enero de 2019

Posted on

COMMUNIQUE: sur l’extradition de Cesare Battisti

Cesare Battisti, ancien membre du groupe “Les Prolétaires Armés pour le Communisme” durant les ‘années de plomb’, vient d’être extradé de Bolivie, où il venait de se réfugier après l’arrivée au pouvoir au Brésil, où il résidait auparavant, du candidat d’extrême-droite Jaïr Bolsonaro.

En 1988 il a été condamné par la Cour d’assises de Milan, par contumace, à la réclusion à perpétuité pour deux assassinats et deux complicités d’assassinat. S’il a toujours assumé politiquement son parcours, il s’affirme innocent des crimes qui lui sont reprochés : ils ont été commis entre juin 1978 et avril 1979 alors qu’il affirme avoir renoncé à la lutte armée suite à l’assassinat d’Aldo Moro le 16 mai 1978.

Emprisonné en 1979 puis condamné en 1981 pour “appartenance à bande armée”, il s’évade peu après et commence un long périple qui va le mener d’abord au Mexique, puis en France et enfin au Brésil.

Réfugié en France en 1990, il va bénéficier de fait de la “doctrine Mitterand”, se faire connaître comme auteur de plusieurs romans policiers, pris sous son aile par Fred Vargas, et reçoit le soutien de nombreuses personnalités. La Chambre d’instruction de la cour d’appel de Paris ayant rendu un avis favorable à son extradition en juin 2004 et le président Chirac allant y donner suite – alors que sa demande de naturalisation allait aboutir -, il prend la fuite pour se réfugier au Brésil.

Arrêté en mars 2007, il sera relâché en juin 2011 et le Conseil National d’Immigration lui accordera le statut de résident permanent, le président Lula ayant entretemps refusé son extradition le 31 décembre 2010…sur laquelle la justice brésilienne s’est prononcée finalement favorablement en octobre 2018. Les faits pour lesquels il est poursuivi, et qu’il conteste, remontent à 37 ans.

Une amnistie serait la bienvenue, ou à tout le moins l’assurance d’un nouveau procès véritablement équitable. On peut en douter au vu des dernières déclarations du ministre de l’Intérieur, d’extrême- droite, Mattéo Salvini, véritable homme fort de l’actuel gouvernement italien. En tout état de cause, nous espérons que Battisti se verra néanmoins accorder les droits qui sont dus à toute personne soumise à la justice italienne, tout en respectant le principe constitutionnel selon lequel la punition ne peut jamais être une vengeance de l’État et que les droits et le respect de sa dignité sont toujours garantis au condamné.

18 janvier 2019

Posted on

Le Procès des 7 de Briancon

Le 8 novembre 2018 s’est tenue au  Tribunal de grande instance de Gap, l’audience correctionnelle des 7 de Briançon, poursuivis pour aide à l’entrée irrégulière sur le territoire français de quelques migrants lors d’une manifestation pour la liberté de circulation et contre les initiatives du groupe d’extrême-droite et raciste, Génération identitaire. Ce groupe avait organisé un blocage illégal de la frontière franco-italienne de Clavière-Montgenèvre sans être inquiété.

Les avocats de l’Association des avocats européens démocrates  ont assisté à cette audience pour soutenir les 7 de Briançon.

Nous, Avocats européens démocrates, sommes fortement préoccupés pour la criminalisation qui, de plus en plus, s’étend en France, mais aussi en Italie, en Hongrie, en Belgique et dans plusieurs Pays européens, contre les migrants et  ceux qui se montrent activement solidaires avec eux.

Nous avons trouvé une ville et, surtout, un Palais de justice en quasi état de siège, signe d’une séparation entre  l’institution judiciaire et la société civile, de l’expression d’une justice craignant toute contestation possible et marquant une crise de la démocratie qui nous inquiète.

Lors de cette audience, dans le cadre de la défense des droits fondamentaux des prévenus, les avocats ont dénoncé les violations des droits des migrants à la frontière franco-italienne et la xénophobie et les atteintes à la démocratie de Génération Identitaire, qui n’a à ce jour pas été poursuivi pour ces actes d’atteintes à l’Etat de droit.

Malgré l’abandon par le Procureur de la République de la circonstance aggravante de « bande organisée », ce qui permet de faire baisser la peine encourue de 10 à 5 ans de prison, ce dernier a toutefois requis des peines allant de 6 mois de prison avec sursis à 12 mois dont 4 fermes, pour des actes élémentaires de solidarité.

Ce procès et ces réquisitions sont significatifs de l’extension en Europe de ce climat d’utilisation de la justice contre des militants et cela nous préoccupe au plus haut point.

Alors que les actions ouvertement marquées par le racisme, la xénophobie et le fascisme semblent de plus en plus admises, ceux qui s’opposent à ces dérives et mettent en œuvre des actions  solidarité aux migrants font l’objet de graves poursuites et accusations ; qu’ils interviennent en mer pour sauver les migrants de la noyade ou à la frontière interne franco-italiennes pour leur éviter de mourir de froid ou de chutes.

Nous souhaitons que l’Autorité Judiciaire puisse in fine rendre aux faits contestés des “7 de Briançon” leur profonde valeur humaniste et reconnaître que ces actions ne peuvent ni doivent être considérées comme des délits

 

Posted on

URGENT : Another Lawyer assassinated in the Philippines

In Solidarity
7 November 2018

Once again, a Philippine colleague has been murdered: Atty. Benjamin Tarug Ramos was shot dead in Kabankalan last night by motorcycle riding men. He died from three gunshot wounds.

This is not the first time. Since 2015, the Association for European Democratic Lawyers (AED) has been denouncing the situation in the Philippines. The cold blooded murder of human rights defenders in the hand of motorcycle mercenarios is unfortunately a recurring theme. In the past, the government has shown no zeal in the investigations.

Atty. Benjamin Tarug Ramos was the Secretary General of the National Union of Philippine Lawyers in the region of Negros, and a well known pro bono lawyer of peasants, environmentalists, activists, political prisoners and mass organizations in Negros.

Any attack against defenders/attorneys for their professional work threatens fundamental and civil rights, and shows the quality of democracy.

To his family, his colleagues and friends goes our solidarity.

To the NUPL, all our support in their fight for a more just and democratic society in the Philippines.

 

—

 

For more information on the NUPL, visit their site.

For more information on human rights abuses of lawyers, please read our letter to the Philippine ambassador 4 years ago

 

Posted on

AUDIO: New Tools of Repression of Social Movements and Counterpractices in Europe

On the 20th of October the AED organized a European Colloquium in Turin.

Here are the interventions in their original language:

Posted on

In solidarity with Mimmo Lucano

L’Associazione Avvocati Democratici Europei riunitasi a Torino nei giorni 19 e 20 ottobre 2018 , in occasione del Convegno Internazionale “Nuove pratiche di repressione dei movimenti sociali in Europa e strategie legali di difesa ” esprime la piena solidarietà a Mimmo Lucano ritenendo il cosiddetto “MODELLO RIACE ” massima espressione dei veri valori costituzionali propri dell’Italia e dell’ Europa, condannando la criminalizzazione adottata illegittimamente contro il suo operato .

 

Auspica una rapida e posiitiva definizione del procedimento penale in corso, affinché possa al più presto ricoprire nuovamente la carica di Sindaco e Riace possa tornare a rappresentare un modello di accoglienza basata sul rispetto dei diritti umani .

 

 

The Association of European Democratic Lawyers (AED-EDL) meeting in Turin on the 19th and 20th of October 2018, on the occasion of the International Conference “New practices of repression of social movements in Europe and legal defense strategies” expresses full solidarity with Mimmo Lucano, the mayor of Riace.

The so-called “RIACE Model” he has helped create is the maximum expression of the true constitutional values ​​of Italy and Europe. It condemns the criminalization adopted illegitimately against his work.

 

The AED hopes for a rapid and positive definition of the ongoing criminal proceedings, so that he can soon re-occupy the position of Mayor and Riace can again represent a model of acceptance based on respect for human rights.

Posted on

STATEMENT: TRIAL AGAINST 22 LAWYERS in TUKEY ISTANBUL 37th HIGH CRIMINAL COURT – FILE NO. 2018/84

OUR COLLEAGUES ARRESTED IN PRE-TRIAL DETENTION HAVE BEEN RELEASED BUT, A FEW HOURS LATER AND AFTER THE PROSECUTOR’S APPEAL, A NEW ARREST WARRANT HAS BEEN ISSUED BY THE SAME COURT FOR 15 OF THEM.

A mission of the AED – EDL, composed by Italian, Spanish, Catalonian, Dutch and French lawyers: Simonetta CRISCI, Gilberto PAGANI, Ezio MENZIONE, Raffaella MULTEDO, Rossella SANTO, Robert SABATA, Adrià FONT, Hanno BOS and Florian BORG have been observing the aforementioned trial against our colleagues, the lawyers Ahmet MANDACI, Aycan ÇİÇEK, Ayşegül ÇAĞATAY, Aytaç ÜNSAL, Barkın TİMTİK, Behiç AŞÇI, Didem BAYDAR ÜNSAL, Ebru TİMTİK, Engin GÖKOĞLU, Naciye DEMİR, Özgür YILMAZ, Süleyman GÖKTEN, Şükriye ERDEN, Yağmur EREREN EVİN, Yaprak TÜRKMEN, Zehra ÖZDEMİR, Ezgi ÇAKIR, Selçuk KOZAĞAÇLI (President of the ÇHD), Günay DAĞ and Oya ASLAN who are members of the Progressive Lawyers Association (Çağdaş Hukukçular Derneği, ÇHD). The majority of them are simultaneously lawyers working for the People’s Law Office (Halkın Hukuk Bürosu, HHB).

Seventeen lawyers were under pre-trial detention until yesterday, when the Court decided to free them under several measures. Even though the decision was announced at the evening, they were physically released today (7.00 am, in the morning). Selçuk Kozağaçlı and Yaprak Türkmen were under incomunicado pre-trial detention. All of them faced very difficult situations in jail. During the hearing, they described in detail the physical attacks they faced during their pre-trial detention process. Among the lawyers who were detained Selçuk Kozağaçlı and Yaprak Türkmen were kept in the High Security Prison of İstanbul in Silivri and the remaining15 lawyers were sent to prisons in six different cities, outside the sphere of jurisdiction and far from their families, without any reason.

But after the Prosecutor’s objection, the same court issued a few hours later new arrest warrants against 15 of them.

Once again, the actions undertaken by Prosecutors and Courts against Lawyers are definitely jeopardizing the Rule of Law in Turkey. The Court released the lawyers on the account they were professionals exercising their profession and because the length of the Pre-trial detention had been denounced by a large number of Humans Rights organisations. Astonishingly, with the exact same arguments the Court has decided to issue new arrest warrants.

We express great concern about this decision, evidently taken under political pressure on the judiciary.

In his bill of indictment, the prosecutor accused Barkın TİMTİK and Özgür YILMAZ of “forming and directing an illegal organization” (they are facing 20 to 22.5 years of jail – in accordance with the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) 314/1, Law No.: 3737 5/1), and the other defendants were accused of “membership in an illegal organization” (with jail for 7.5 years to 20 years – in accordance with TCK 314/2, Law No.: 3713 5/1). The proof against them is slight.

It appears inacceptable that:

  • The prosecutor considers evidence against Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, the suspects accused of membership in a terror organization, a booklet, titled Unfinished Scenario of a Terror Organization – The Facts about Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça. The booklet was in fact published on the official website of the Ministry of Interior, on July 21, 2017.
  • For many defendants, accusations are not personalized, and consist of statistical information about the professional activities of the lawyers and their style of professional approach grounded on abstract accounts of witnesses, which are been turned into the subject of the accusation.
  • Proceedings, prepared with reference to social media accounts and printed publications are included in the formal accusation against the lawyers.
  • Statistical reports on the procedural acts of 16 lawyers, pertaining to their clients in custody or detained in prison was prepared and directed as accusation.
  • The bill of indictment contains information on press conferences, in which the lawyers participated and the court cases filed against them.

It is our consideration, that lawyers are here unfairly attacked for taking a stand in defence of Fundamental Rights and Liberties. We remind the Turkish authorities that the BASIC PRINCIPLES ON THE ROLE OF LAWYERS adopted by the 8th United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, which took place in Havana, Cuba from the 27th of August to the 7th September 1990, enshrine the necessary Guarantees for the correct functioning of this professional activity.

  1. Governments shall ensure that lawyers (a) are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference; (b) are able to travel and to consult with their clients freely both within their own country and abroad; and (c) shall 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….

           18. Lawyers shall not be identified with their clients or their clients’ causes as a result of discharging their functions.

The Turkish authorities have taken for granted that, as enshrined by the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers (22nd of August 2016), associations of lawyers, together with non-governmental organizations, should build networks to act in coordination and solidarity to defend and protect lawyers from attacks. So professional associations of lawyers like ÇHD have a vital role to play in upholding professional standards and ethics, protecting their members from persecution and improper restrictions and infringements.

We urge the Turkish authorities to take account of these very serious concerns with the aim to avoid future human rights violations during the very difficult period Turkey is going through at the moment. Recently, the state of emergency was lifted, but that will not be enough to reverse this repressive trend on an upward trajectory. Systematic action is needed to restore respect for human rights, enable civil society to regain its momentum and ease the climate of suffocating fear that has swept the country.

Yet, despite the repression, lawyers demand justice and equality, at the risk of being unfairly punished for taking a stand, guided by their deep commitment to human rights, justice and freedom. Instead of punishing them, Turkey should be proud of these people who form a vibrant and brilliant human rights community.

As jurists we cannot accept this harassment of our colleagues and human rights defenders. Sadly, there is a long tradition of attacking the defence in Turkey. So, we make a call upon Turkish authorities to prevent the development of intimidation against lawyers and humans rights defenders.

Colmar, 15th September 2018,

AED (Avocats Européens Démocrates / European Democratic Lawyers)