Arrest of Peter Erlinder in Rwanda

The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers condemns the arrest of Peter Erlinder by Rwandan authorities and demands his immediate release. Professor Erlinder, a faculty member at William Mitchell College of Law in the United States and president of ADAD, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Defense Lawyers Association, was arrested by the government of Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president. He is charged with violation of Rwanda’s so-called “"Law Relating to the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Ideology," apparently because, in the course of his representation of clients before the ICTR, he has challenged the accepted story of the Rwandan Genocide. He has also been a critic of Kagame and filed suit against him in the United States, alleging he triggered the genocide by ordering the assassinations of Juvenal Habyarimana, president of Rwanda, and Cyprien Ntaryamira, president of Burundi, whose plane was shot out of the sky in 1994.

It is evident that Erlinder’s arrest was politically motivated and seeks to punish him for fulfilling his responsibilities as a lawyer, to be a vigorous and conscientious advocate for his clients. The appropriate venues to test the truth of Erlinder’s claims are the courts in which he is litigating and the pre-emptive strike against that by the Rwandan government can only lend credence to those claims. The Rwandan government and President Kagame should not fear fair and public trials. Erlinder’s advocacy is in the finest tradition of the legal profession and every individual and government committed to the rule of law, especially including the government of Rwanda and President Kagame, should applaud his dedication to his clients’ causes.

We call on the British government, the United Nations, non-governmental organisations and individuals around the world to prevail upon Rwanda to release Erlinder immediately.

Haldane wins out at Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards 2010

Haldane Society activists were honoured on Wednesday 26 May for their commitment to legal aid. At the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards, organised by the Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG), Kat Craig (Haldane Vice-Chair) won Young Legal Aid Solicitor of the Year, Adam Straw (former Haldane executive member) won Young Legal Aid Barrister of the Year and Haldane President Mike Mansfield QC was given an award for Outstanding Achievement amongst legal aid lawyers.

In their acceptance speeches, Kat reminded the audience that lawyers in Colombia have been murdered for their commitment to human rights and Adam stressed the importance of lawyers campaigning and lobbying as well as litigating. Mike Mansfield called for vigorous action to defend legal aid services from public spending cuts.

Haldane Chair Liz Davies said: "Each of these Haldane activists does outstanding legally aided work and they have made a difference to the lives of their clients. We're proud that their talent and commitment has been recognised by the profession. The government needs to realise that there will only be similarly talented and dedicated lawyers in the future if the legal aid system - already cut to shreds - is protected from public spending cuts. Without legal aid, it will be impossible for ordinary people to engage lawyers to help defend their rights."

HALDANE SOCIETY VICE-CHAIR KAT CRAIG SHORTLISTED FOR "YOUNG LEGAL AID LAWYER OF THE YEAR"

Kat Craig, solicitor at Christian Khan solicitors and Vice-Chair of the Haldane Society, is on a shortlist of three for the prestigious award of "Young Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year", organised by the Legal Aid Practitioners' Group. Legal aid lawyers are the unsung heroes of the legal profession and act for some of the poorest and most socially disadvantaged people in society.

Kat works on public and private law challenges to the police and the Home Office and other detaining authorities. She also represents the families of those who died in police and prison custody during the respective investigations by the police or Prison and Probation Ombudsman and at the Inquest.

Haldane Chair Liz Davies said: "The Haldane Society was proud to support Kat's nomination for Young Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year. Kat combines political activity with an extremely demanding publicly funded   case-load. She's active in campaigns to defend legal aid, and to support human rights defenders in Colombia and elsewhere. We can't think of a better person to be Young Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year and thank LAPG for shortlisting her."

Further information at www.lapg.co.uk

Concern at Sentence for Abdullah Ocalan's Lawyers

The Haldane Society notes with serious concern that the lawyers, Irfan Dündar and Firat Aydinkaya, who act on behalf of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, have been sentenced in Istanbul for "spreading propaganda for a terror organisation".

The Istanbul 10th High Criminal Court gave both lawyers prison sentences of ten months each (which was suspended for five years because of "good conduct and no previous criminal record"). At the same time the same court acquitted former Democratic Society Party (DTP) MP Aysel Tugluk of similar charges.

Ocalan's lawyers were sentenced because of the appearance of a newspaper article entitled "A chance for Öcalan" published in Özgür Gündem on 29 and 30 April 2009. The court stated that the article included phrases made by Dündar and Aydinkakya such as "The lawyers conveyed Öcalan's opinion on the developments within KONGRA-GEL (PKK)", "He is experiencing the pain of change" and "Öcalan's opinions are important for an enduring peace".

Informed by the findings of a number of its members who participated in an International Delegation to Turkey in February 2008, the Haldane Society firmly believes that the sentence reflects the intolerable conditions under which lawyers acting for the Kurdish leader have been subject since his apprehension in 1999 and the subsequent trial.

Unfortunately, it is nothing new for not only have they been subjected to various forms of harassment and intimidation while performing their normal professional duties and seeking to represent their client, they have been treated as terror suspects themselves.

The fact is that Turkish law as presently constituted permits such charges to be routinely brought against lawyers simply for putting across the case of their client.
The Haldane Society considers that this situation is utterly unacceptable and will continue to publicise the cases of, and express solidarity with, those lawyers seeking to perform their professional duties in the most difficult of circumstances.

Imprisonment of Minors in Turkey

The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers is deeply concerned at reports (The Guardian, 1st Feb 2010) that a 15-year-old girl, a Turkish Kurd, named Berivan, has been jailed in Turkey for nearly eight years after being convicted of "terrorist" offences. She was arrested at a demonstration in the south-eastern city of Batman in October 2009. The 13-and-a-half-year sentence originally imposed on her was later reduced on appeal to seven years and nine months because of her age. She was found guilty of "crimes on behalf of an illegal organisation" after prosecutors alleged she had hurled stones and shouted slogans. She was also convicted of attending "meetings and demonstrations in opposition to the law" and "spreading propaganda for an illegal organisation". There are substantial concerns as to the fairness of her trial and conviction.

The Society understands that under counter-terrorism legislation introduced in 2006, Turkey has been trying juveniles as adults, and jailing them for up to 50 years. Recent official figures have revealed that there are currently 2,622 minors in Turkish prisons. According to the Diyarbakir Human Rights Association, some 737 minors have been charged under the counter-terrorism legislation since its introduction. Out of 267 tried in Diyarbakir last year, 78 were given extended jail terms.

According to the European Court of Human Rights, between 1959 and 2009 Turkey was the worst violator of the European Convention on Human Rights, with almost 19% of all violations, and 2,295 judgements issued against it. Turkey also had the highest proportion of violations in 2009, with 347 out of 1,625 negative rulings. The right most commonly violated was the right to a fair trial. Turkey was also condemned in 30 cases of inhumane or degrading treatment.

Turkey ratified the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on 4 April 1995. Berivan is a “child”, whose rights are protected by this Convention. Article 37 (c) of the CRC provides that

“(b) No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time;”

The Society considers that an 8 year sentence on conviction for the crimes reported is grossly disproportionate, and appears to be a violation of Turkey’s treaty obligations under the CRC.

Statement in Support of Climate Defenders

As practising lawyers committed to the promotion and protection of human rights, we are deeply disturbed at reports of excessive use of force and arbitrary mass arrests of climate activists by police during the course of the peaceful climate demonstration in Copenhagen on Saturday 12 December.

Both the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee the right to freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and the rights to receive and impart information. We urge the Danish Government to uphold those rights and to support the just demands of civil society for climate justice.

We refer to the article by Dirk Voorhoof below.

"Copenhagen police actions in total disrespect of fundamental human rights"
15-12-2009 15:51:08
I'm a law professor from Belgium, teaching at Copenhagen University, Law Faculty. This semester I've introduced the European standards and values on freedom of expression, democracy and human rights to visiting students. In class we have highlighted the standards in Scandinavian countries on these matters. Denmark is a good example on how freedom of expression is guaranteed according to human rights' principles. The last days in Copenhagen I have, beside my work at university, participated in some events related to the Climate Conference. I'm impressed by the commitment of the whole Danish Society in the actual climate policy debate.

The events of Saturday 12 December 2009, and more precisely the absolute unacceptable way the Danish police treated and arrested nearly 1000 demonstrators during the Climate demonstration, have shocked me. I have seen a lot of people being inhumanly treated by the police, being kept for hours pushed on the ground in the middle of the streets on a cold winter evening. It was obvious that hundreds of them had done nothing wrong, except from just being there, participating in the demonstration.

It is necessary and appreciated that the police isolates and arrests violent activists, but the intervention by the police forces at Amagerbrogade and the arrest of hundreds of innocent demonstrators was out of proportion. The police action was in total disrespect of the principles in the European Convention of Human Rights.

How can Denmark be an example to the rest of the world when so many people participating in a peaceful demonstration coming up for a sustainable development of the planet are inhumanly treated and arrested as criminals by the police forces?

Tomorrow I will leave Denmark for a while, hoping that when I come back around Christmas the Danish political authorities explicitly have condemned the police actions during the Climate demonstration of Saturday 12 December, unworthy for a democracy.

If the Danish authorities take no clear action against the police interventions of last Saturday, Denmark will undoubtedly loose credibility in the international human rights' community. A society that leaves a too big gap between the theory and practice of human rights cannot uphold the perception of being truly committed to these values and principles.

Author: Dirk VOORHOOF