Law firm Ficq & Partners is furious because, according to them, a lawyer from the firm was recently ‘monitored’, after which a report was sent to the dean of the legal profession in Central Netherlands. The office has a letter published about this to the Minister of Legal Protection, which the Algemeen Dagblad wrote about on Tuesday.
Multiple incidents
According to the office, there were several incidents involving lawyer Juriaan de Vries who was monitored by prison staff when he visited a client convicted in the Marengo trial.
During a meeting in an office, he was urged by prison staff to come with them. They asked if everything was okay. He allegedly seemed nervous, paced around the consulting room and talked loudly.
The employees had kept an eye on De Vries and made notes about this that were sent to the dean of the Bar Association in Central Netherlands.
Groceries
After the criminal cases against two lawyers of Ridouan Taghi, the Minister of Legal Protection Franc Weerwind, in consultation with the Bar Association, devised measures to prevent lawyers from being put under pressure by detainees. A lawyer and cousin of Ridouan Taghi has been convicted of passing on messages for Taghi. In an ongoing criminal case, the Public Prosecution Service suspects Taghi’s former lawyer Inez Weski of the same thing.
Other plans include recording conversations between lawyers and clients and only allowing visits by two lawyers at a time. The Council of State criticized the plan to record lawyers’ conversations on Monday.
‘Independent’
After the report by the Judicial Institutions Service to the dean, De Vries received an invitation to talk to the dean. De Vries is also displeased about this.
De Vries told the AD: ‘People forget that as a lawyer I am independent. No one at all is going to decide for me how I do my work.’
Something similar happened to Michael Ruperti, one of Ridouan Taghi’s lawyers, and he also had to report to the dean. His visit to Taghi in the Extra Secure Institution (EBI) in Vught was reported by prison staff because of ‘deviant behavior’. Ruperti had not chatted with staff or had chewing gum in his pocket.
Colleague (also Taghi’s lawyer) Sjoerd van Berge Henegouwen has submitted a complaint about this to the Judicial Institutions Agency (DJI) on behalf of Taghi and the defense team.
Sixteen times
Ficq’s lawyers and partners state in the letter that they will no longer speak to staff of the institutions during visits and will try to prevent monitoring as much as possible, including by speaking softly to clients.
The dean in Central Netherlands confirmed to the Algemeen Dagblad that there are agreements with the DJI about passing on signals in the expectation of ‘countering undermining in the legal profession’.
In 2023, such a signal will have been issued sixteen times. Last year, in one case, a complaint was submitted to the disciplinary judge about the lawyer.
Lawyer De Vries announced on X on Tuesday morning that after the publication of the Algemeen Dagblad he had received apps from Telegraaf journalist John van den Heuvel in which he was called ‘errand boy’.
(Response from) John van den Heuvel, journalist at De Telegraaf. pic.twitter.com/9orEqbj9iX
— Juriaan de Vries (@JuriaandeVries) April 30, 2024
Also see:
New investigation unit for research in prisons
‘Taghi sleeps in a cell with a temperature around freezing’ (UPDATE)
Ridouan Taghi had contact with cousin from EBI (UPDATE)
