The International Observatory of Lawyers in Danger (OIAD) submits an Amicus Curiae brief to the Constitutional Court of Colombia in the “Dilan Cruz Case”.   The Dilan Cruz case refers to the killing of the young man by a member of the National Police, during the 2019 National Strike demonstrations in Colombia. The lawyer Fernando Rodríguez Kekhan is a member of the legal team of the committee in solidarity with political prisoners in Colombia, and represents the interests of the family of the young Dilan Cruz. The presentation of the amicus curiae responds to the actions of the OIAD in accompanying Fernando Rodríguez Kekhan, in the context of risk in which he carries out his work as a lawyer. The amicus provides a legal analysis on the importance of serious human rights violations such as the present one not being studied within the Military Criminal Jurisdiction. This special jurisdiction restrain the respect of due process and victims’ rights. Specifically, the Colombian Constitutional Court is asked to recognise the competence of the ordinary jurisdiction in the Dilan Cruz case. In such a way that the lawyer can exercise the guarantees of participation in accordance with due process, without risks, threats […]

  May 24th, 2021 The International Observatory of Endangered Lawyers (OIAD) and the Spanish Lawyers Foundation have submitted an Amicus Curiae brief to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (I/A Court H.R) in the case “Family of Digna Ochoa y Placido v. Mexico”. Digna Ochoa y Plácido was a Mexican human rights lawyer who died violently on 19 October 2001 after having been the target of threats for years for reasons associated with her professional work. The elements of analysis and context offered to the I/A Court H.R through the amicus brief lead to the conclusion that the ideal conditions did not exist to ensure the protection of Digna Ochoa y Plácido, regarding the threats and the situation of risk that arose as a consequence of them. In other words, the public authorities failed in their duty to guarantee the victim’s protection, which includes investigating the threats received during the previous years. Although the lawyer had been granted protective measures by the Court, these measures were withdrawn two months before her murder on 19 October 2001. The amicus is mainly based on the findings described in the Report of the Spanish Lawyers Fondation “Impunity and Defencelessness: Case of Fernández Ortega […]

The Consiglio Nazionale Forense (Italy), with lawyer Francesco Caia, assumes the Presidency of the International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger (OIAD) for this year. 5 May 2021 The President Victoria Ortega Benito handed over of the Presidency at the end of the General Assembly held on April 29, 2021 in accordance with the statute, which provides for the annual rotation of the Presidency among the founding members of the Observatory (Conseil National des Barreaux (France), Conseil National Forense (Italy), Consejo General de la Abogacía Española (Spain), Ordre des Avocats de Paris. The Geneva Bar Association and the Milan Bar Association are elected members of the OIAD Board. Five years have passed since the foundation of the OIAD, which main aim is to support lawyers all over the world who are threatened and persecuted by arbitrary arrests and convictions only because they are guilty of faithfully exercising the defensive mandate, in the exclusive interest of the client, without yielding to the pressures of governments and authoritarian regimes. Many are physically attacked and injured or even pay with their lives for their commitment. Currently, more than forty bar associations, including non-Europeans, are members of the OIAD. «I thank the President Ortega, all […]

The trial of Roberto David Castillo Mejía in the Berta Cáceres case began on April 6, 2021. The Expert Observation Mission (in which the International Observatory of Endangered Lawyers (OIAD) took part) has monitored the entire case and is currently supervising the trial. The president of the OIAD and of the General Council of Spanish Lawyers, Victoria Ortega, has dedicated a few words of support to the legal team of the victims in the trial and has wished that the process takes place with all the legal guarantees. Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores, the general coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (COPINH), was assassinated on March 2, 2016 for her active opposition to the “Agua Zarca”. The latter is an hydroelectric project built by the DESA company on the territory of the Lenca indigenous in southwestern Honduras. L’OIAD was initially involved in the case though its’ support to Víctor Fernández (a threatened lawyer), COPINH’s legal representative who took on the representation in court of the leader’s family and to COPINH as a victim of Berta Cáceres’ assassination. In 2018, seven people were sentenced as co-authors in the murder of Berta Cáceres. The OIAD carried out […]

Honduras: The trial for the intellectual authorship of the murder of Berta Cáceres Honduras begins The Expert Observation Mission in which the International Qualified Observation Mission in which the International Observatory of Lawyers in Danger (OIAD) participates, has issued a press release on the beginning of the trial for the murder of Berta Cáceres: Honduras: Expert mission to Observe Trial for Murder of Berta Cáceres The Americas/Europe April 6, 2021 In light of the upcoming trial of the Berta Cáceres Case, the Expert Observation Mission calls on the State of Honduras to guarantee the application of international standards and national norms that lead to truth, comprehensive justice and reparations in a case of global interest. Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores, General Coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), was assassinated on March 2, 2016.  In addition to the defense of territory, she worked to assert the cultural rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as women’s rights. As a result of her struggle and advocacy work, Berta Cáceres was the victim of numerous threats and campaigns of stigmatization, harassment and criminalization, which led the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to grant her precautionary measures during […]