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.
01/06/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Tony Lloyd (United Kingdom, SOC), PACE Rapporteur on the Prosecution of offences falling within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), today welcomed the arrest by the Interior Ministries of the Republika Srpska and Serbia of Zdravko Tolimir, one of the remaining fugitive’s war criminals. Mr Lloyd noted that this arrest is an important step in the reconciliation process and demonstrates that, with the needed political will, fugitives can be found. “The arrest of Zdravko Tolimir is a very important step in the right direction” he said.
29/05/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), the Chair of PACE's Legal Affairs Committee, has expressed his indignation at the extension of the house arrest imposed on Aung San Suu Kyi, opposition leader in Myanmar and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Mr Marty strongly condemned this decision and denounced the systematic use of imprisonment for political reasons in the country.
15/05/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
A member of PACE Legal Affairs Committee will visit Skopje to seek “supplementary information” before deciding whether or not to recommend a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the former President of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” Boris Trajkovski. Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) has been authorised by the committee to make the visit, though no date or programme has been decided yet.