Our Mission: To work for fair trials based on international standards of justice and defend the rights of those facing charges in a country other than their own.

Our Work: We campaign for fairer cross-border justice by assisting individuals in their fight for justice, making expert policy interventions, conducting innovative research and providing training and networking opportunities for human rights defenders from all over the world.

In this issue

Case Spotlights: Michael Shields & Patrick Mulluzzo

Jack Straw pardons Michael Shields

Last week the Secretary of State for Justice (Jack Straw) pardoned Michael Shields after concluding that he is “innocent of the attempted murder of which he was convicted in Bulgaria”. We are delighted that Michael Shields has been freed after over four years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Fair Trials International has campaigned for justice for Michael Shields since his arrest in 2005. We sent an observer to attend the court hearings in Bulgaria and saw first-hand that his trial was grossly unfair. Michael’s conviction was based on conflicting witness statements and flawed identification evidence. When another Liverpool man confessed to the crime, the Bulgarian courts failed to take this confession into account and maintained Michael’s conviction.

Read about Michael’s case in more detail.


Continuing the fight for justice for Patrick Mulluzzo

Patrick Malluzzo has been detained in India since 2004. He was arrested by the Indian police, tortured for two weeks and forced to make a televised confession. Following a grossly unfair trial, Patrick was convicted of possessing drugs and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in 2005.

After learning of the case Fair Trials International has worked with lawyers in the UK and India to help Patrick build a strong legal appeal. Given the serious flaws with the initial trial, we are convinced that any competent court considering the case would overturn Patrick’s conviction and enable him to return home to his family. We are continuing to fight for the justice in the Indian courts and to persuade the High Court in Rajasthan to hear the appeal.

Read about Patrick’s case in more detail.

Campaign: The Arrest Warrant

Fair Trials International is campaigning for a fairer system of extradition in Europe. Informed by the cases of serious injustice we have seen arising from the use of the European Arrest Warrant, the campaign will focus on the changes needed to make the system fairer.

Fair Trials International is not against European cooperation in matters of criminal justice, nor are we against a fair system of extradition within Europe. We are, however, against the shocking injustices that are occurring under the European Arrest Warrant as it now operates. Whatever the aspirations for increasing cooperation within Europe, in practice the system must be judged on how well it delivers justice. At Fair Trials International we have encountered far too many examples where the present extradition system fails this crucial test.

Read more about Fair Trials International’s campaign on the European Arrest Warrant

Events: Fair Trials International’s Legal Experts Advisory Panel meets in The Hague

Last week Fair Trials International hosted the third meeting of its Legal Experts Advisory Panel (LEAP) in The Hague (Netherlands). This meeting was attended by 22 experts from 9 EU member states and provided an opportunity to discuss the disadvantages faced by non-national defendants in criminal proceedings within Europe. The Panel focused, in particular, on the need for greater access to interpreters and translation facilities and the need to address disadvantages faced by non nationals in applications for bail.

LEAP comprises experts in the fields of criminal justice and human rights from across Europe and meets two to three times each year to share information and discuss issues of concern. LEAP also informs FTI’s work on a range of human rights and cross-border criminal justice issues in Europe. The last meeting, held in London in May, focused on the implementation of the European Arrest Warrant and the improvements needed to ensure that the Warrant delivers rather than undermines justice.

Read more about Fair Trials International’s Legal Expert Advisory Panel

Read more at www.fairtrials.net

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Fair Trials International
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London EC4V 5AQ
Tel: 0044 (0) 207 762 6400
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Email: office@fairtrials.net

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