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Internationale Verfahrensbeobachter aus Justiz im Fall von Julian Assange

The Council of Bar and Law Societies of Europe - the extradition of Mr. Assange would inevitably lead to a serious infraction of his fundamental human right to a fair trial. 

Februar 24, 2020

The Council of Bar and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) which represents the bars and law societies of 45 countries, and through them more than 1 million European lawyers, wrote an open letter to UK Home Secretary Ms. Priti Patel, in which it expressed concern over the breach of lawyer-client privilege of Mr. Assange. 

The CCBE has taken note of the criminal proceedings undertaken in Spain against David Morales Guillén inter alia in relation to the surveillance of communication between Mr. Assange and his lawyers during his stay at the embassy of Ecuador, obtained on Mr. Guillén's instructions.

The Council has characterised this surveillance as an “egregious breach of Mr. Assange's rights, under Spanish and Ecuadorian Law to maintain the secrecy of his communications and discussions with his lawyers and, under English and US law, to assert Legal Professional Privilege in connection with those communications and discussions.”

The Council further stated that there was “serious concern that the illegal recordings of communication between Mr. Assange and his lawyers which were obtained in manner referred to above and which may be in the possession of the security service in the United States may be - openly or secretly' used in the criminal proceedings against Mr. Julian Assange in the event that he is extradited to the USA.”

It continues “in these circumstances, and in the consequent absence of any confidence that the information obtained by the unlawful surveillance of Mr. Assange's communications with his lawyers will not be used either in any trial of Mr. Assange, or to inform the decisions and actions of the US prosecuting authorities (even if not overly relied upon as evidence in the trial), the extradition of Mr. Assange would inevitably lead to a serious infraction of his fundamental human right to a fair trial.”

Read the full letter here.