Avocats Européens Démocrates – Page 23 – European Democratic Lawyers

07/15/200811/01/2015

THE VIOLENCE IN BOLZANETO IS CONFIRMED

WE HAVE TRUTH BUT NO JUSTICE

Seven years after the events and four years after the beginning of the trial, the Court of Genoa has only partially done justice to the victims of the Bolzaneto lager.

The gravest violations of fundamental rights have been confirmed like the inhuman treatment of the detained and the violence. The officers responsible of the structure have all been condemned. We wait to know the motivations of the sentence to evaluate some parts that seem inexplicable at the moment like absolving some of the accused for facts that seem confirmed, particularly the crimes of falsehood) and the mildness of some of the convictions in the sentence. The absence of a law that punishes torture and the reigning conspiracy of silence amongst those that belong to the Forces of Order has prevented a harder sentence, more in accordance with the seriousness of the ascertained facts.

We retain as positive the fact that the truth has been confirmed, that is, what was denounced and related by the victims of Bolzaneto. We also retain as positive the only part of the condemnation that is not symbolic: a compensation for the damages in the form of a payment of 10.000 euros for those who have suffered the violence and for their families. The conviction to compensate the damages has included the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Justice, proving the full responsibility of the State in the ascertained facts. Due to the prescription of the crimes and the application of the Italian law regulating indult, the compensation of damages is the only tangible effect of this trial, which will not compensate the suffering of the victims and the permanent consequences of the physical and psychological violence.

The determining fact has been the contribution of the lawyers of the plaintiffs who from the start where alone in gathering the complaints, demanding investigations and pushing the public powers to start this trial. Other than the many Italian lawyers, numerous lawyers from Europe have been directly present at the trial and have given useful contributions. Many of these lawyers are part of the European Democratic Lawyers’ Association (EDL).

Now that through public debate the events that took place in Bolzaneto have been ascertained, events that are unworthy of democratic state, we ask the government to apologize to the victims of Bolzaneto, takes measures against the condemned officers and proceed immediately to the payment of the due sums.

15/7/2008
EUROPEAN DEMOCRATIC LAWYERS www.aed-edl.net
LEGAL TEAM ITALIA www.legalteamitalia.it

01/27/200710/31/2015

Lawyers in the Philippines

Malaga, 27th January 2007

The European Democratic Lawyers have been informed of the dramatic situation of lawyers and judges in the Philippines during their General Assembly in Malaga on Saturday, the 27th of January 2007.

Since the year 2001, 17 lawyers and 11 judges have been murdered. Most of them were engaged in the fight for the respect of Human Rights. Today, many other live under threat.

The EDL demand of the government of the Philippines and of national and international institutions to:

1. Publicly condemn the murders and threats in resolute terms.

2. Take action immediately to protect the security of lawyers, judges and all those engaged in support of Human Rights.

3. The demanded measures imply pursuing the presumed authors, even if the forces of state security were involved

4. Constitute and give support to an independent commission, not controlled by the government, in charge of investigating the murders, threats and harassments. The recommendations of this commission should be followed.

5. Take all necessary measures to end the culture of impunity and to restore the confidence of the people in the functioning of a constitutional state and the rule of law.

01/21/200611/01/2015

TO THE CONSEJO GENERAL DE LA ABOGACÍA ESPAÑOLA

TO THE CONSEJO GENERAL DE LA ABOGACÍA ESPAÑOLA (GENERAL COUNCIL OF SPANISH LAWYERS)

The international Association of which I am president, the European Democratic Lawyers (AED) has had knowledge of serious procedural incidents during the oral hearings being held at the 3rd Section of the Audiencia Nacional (Case 18/98), through several of our members who have attended these hearings as accredited observers. Therefore, at the General Assembly held on January 20th in Brussels, the Association agreed to address this Council in order to state the following:

First. – Since the beginning of the Trial, several lawyers from our Association have regularly attended the oral hearings as juridical observers with due authorisation from the Tribunal. The incidents explained below were directly witnessed by the said observers.

Second. – One of the preliminary objections made by the defence counsel for the 58 defendants at the beginning of the oral hearings, referred to the fact that a large number of pieces of documentary evidence requested and approved by the Tribunal as anticipated evidence were not included in the Case files. The observers were able to verify, according to the account of evidence proposed and admitted and its state provided by the Secretary, that the said pieces of evidence had not been incorporated into the proceedings. Likewise, the defence requested the Secretary gave an account of the pieces of evidence which were at the disposal of the Court at that time, and that they be located among the proceedings, totalling in excess of 200,000 sheets. This request was disregarded.

The preliminary objection demanding the hearings be adjourned until all the agreed preliminary pieces of evidence were incorporated into the proceedings and made available to all the parties was rejected by the Tribunal, which agreed to resume the sessions.

Third. – During the session of December 20th, 2005, one of the requested and admitted preliminary pieces of evidence was incorporated into the proceedings. This piece was a set of older proceedings from Central Investigation Court No5, which were opened in 1989, and to which the prosecutions, booth the Prosecutor Fiscal and the private prosecution (Asociación de Víctimas del Terrorismo) had referred to as evidence. It was therefore clear that they were aware of the content of these proceedings.

The said piece of evidence amounts to approximately 100,000 sheets of paper.

Despite the fact that it had been added to the proceedings, the said piece of evidence was not made available to the counsel for the defence immediately. The reason given for this was that the Tribunal had to examine its content and organise it first.

Fourth. – More than one month later, the lawyers for the defence had not been given a copy of the said documents, and they had only been allowed to consult this material at the Secretary’s office within a very limited timetable. The defence therefore requested the Trial be adjourned for the time necessary to at least minimally appraise the content of such a voluminous piece of documentary evidence.

When this request was denied again, the lawyers for the defence called for backing from their respective Professional Bar Associations, which in turn addressed the Basque Lawyers’ Council. The latter issued a resolution that was very critical of the decision by the Court. We know that the Madrid Bar Association has also expressed itself in a similar vein.

Fifth. – As a consequence of the calls for backing, the Court issued a decision adjourning the Trial until January the 30th, 2006, which evidently still allows too little time to assess the piece of documentary evidence described above with full guarantees.

In view of all the above, the Association of which I am president has agreed to call on this General Council to make whichever decisions and initiate whichever actions it sees fit, in order to prevent new violations of the right to a defence in Case 18/98, and to express its support for the measures requested by the defence lawyers, aimed at safeguarding this right; including, insofar as it is necessary, an adjournment of the Trial until such a time as it can be resumed in accordance with juridically acceptable guarantees.

Brussels, January 21, 2006.

August Gil Matamala President of the AED.
Rambla de Catalunya 10, 2o 2a 08007 Barcelona