22/02/2008 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), the author of two reports by the PACE on CIA secret flights and detentions in Europe in 2006 and 2007, welcomed the revelation of the truth on the CIA’s use of the British Diego Garcia airbase.“Yet more denials prove to be untrue. Further admissions will undoubtedly confirm the facts established by the Council of Europe. Truth is on the march. I call on the parliaments and the courts of the countries named in the resolutions of the Parliamentary Assembly to step up their efforts to shed full light on this matter.
21/02/2008 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Rapporteur on human rights defenders of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) calls upon the Russian authorities to reconsider their decision not to issue a travel visa to Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, who was due to visit Moscow to present a report on legal restrictions on civil society in Russia.
18/12/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights today made public the following statement: "The Committee considers it its duty to join in the campaign to have Ingrid Betancourt released from captivity. It solemnly calls upon the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to free Ingrid Betancourt without further delay."
13/12/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Azerbaijan’s abuse of defamation laws to put pressure on journalists in Azerbaijan has been condemned by PACE's Legal Affairs Committee in a declaration adopted today. The committee protested in particular at the imprisonment of the journalists Ilgar Nasibov and Eynulla Fatullayev earlier this year.
07/12/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Dick Marty, Chair of the PACE's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights welcomes the moves in the two houses of the US Congress towards banning the CIA from using coercive interrogation methods such as “waterboarding”, the use of dogs and sexual humiliation. “They are purely and simply torture techniques. They violate the international obligations of the United States in the field of human rights and are totally unworthy of this great democracy.”
26/11/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Chair of PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and rapporteur on the situation in the North Caucasus Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE) has expressed dismay at the abduction, during the night of 24 November, of Oleg Orlov, President of the Russian Human Rights NGO “Memorial”, and three journalists of Ren-TV. Dick Marty asked his fellow parliamentarians from the Russian Federation “to press the authorities to swiftly identify and punish the authors and instigators of this blatant act of intimidation against a highly respected human rights defender and the accompanying journalists”.
12/11/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The procedures used by the UN Security Council and the European Union for blacklisting individuals and groups suspected of links with terrorists are “totally arbitrary and have no credibility whatsoever”, according to PACE's Legal Affairs Committee, which today approved a report by Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE). These procedures, which are "unworthy" of the UN and EU, must urgently be overhauled to make them fairer, the parliamentarians said. The report is due to be debated by PACE at its January session.
09/11/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE rapporteur Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE) is to present a report on whether individuals and groups “blacklisted” by the UN Security Council and the European Union for their links to terrorism are treated in line with Council of Europe human rights standards. The report is due to be discussed by PACE's Legal Affairs Committee at a meeting in Paris on Monday 12 November 2007.
09/10/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Vice-Chair of PACE's Legal Affairs Committee Erik Jurgens today called on the French authorities to give Abdelhamid Hakkar, an Algerian who still claims his innocence after 23 years in jail for the murder of a policeman and armed robbery, a firm date when he can apply for parole. Speaking outside Ensisheim Prison following a visit to Mr Hakkar, Mr Jurgens said there had been "a degree of vindictiveness" in the way he had been treated. "There are other prisoners in the same position who are now free."
20/07/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Dick Marty, Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on “secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states” presented his findings, and the conclusions of the Assembly, at a hearing organised in Brussels by the European Parliament with members of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Civil Liberties Committee and the Human Rights Subcommittee. This was followed by a press conference at which Dick Marty and Claudio Fava (EP Rapporteur) took part. The following background information document was made available.
08/06/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE rapporteur Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE) today revealed new evidence that US “high-value detainees” were held in secret CIA prisons in Poland and Romania during the period 2002-5 and alleges a series of partly secret decisions among NATO allies in October 2001 which provided the basic framework for illegal CIA activities in Europe. In an explanatory memorandum made public today, Mr Marty says he has cross-referenced the credible testimonies of over 30 members of intelligence services in the US and Europe with analysis of "data strings" from the international flight planning system.
04/06/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Following several months of additional investigation, Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), rapporteur of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), is due to present his second report on “Alleged secret detentions and illegal inter-state transfers involving Council of Europe member states” to the Assembly's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in Paris on Friday 8 June 2007. The meeting is closed to the press, but if the report is approved by the committee, it will be made public on this occasion. Mr Marty will also give a press conference at 2 p.m.