Country Fellows Summit

The 2010 Country Fellows Summit was held on Sunday, August 8^th through Saturday, August 14^th. Eight Fellows from all six different country programs (Cambodia, China, India, Burundi, Rwanda and Zimbabwe) gathered for a week of training, team-building exercises, strategic planning, and fellowship.

Fellows carry much responsibility, as they manage the country programs, are the face of IBJ in their various countries, liaise between IBJ and local partners, and, in most countries, serve as counsel in the criminal cases taken by IBJ. The Summit aimed to: i) strengthen Fellows’ organizational and programmatic capacity to lead and sustain their respective country program; ii) reinforce their legal defense, advocacy and teaching skills; iii) create a supportive network of global defenders with the Singapore legal community and iv) increase the feeling of belonging to the IBJ community and motivation to build the legal rights movement in their respective countries.

With the support of eminent members of the Singapore legal community, external experts and IBJ management, the  Fellows were walked through IBJ’s complete training methodology. Fellows learned how to organize the content for an effective presentation and how to deliver it, using persuasive gesture and other attributes, whether in a courtroom, meeting or speech setting. They also developed critical negotiation skills through case scenarios involving uncooperative justice officials. More significantly, Fellows gained crucial trial advocacy skills which will help them become  more effective and efficient advocates for defendants’ rights. The trainings were interactive such that every single Fellow had a chance to put the skills to immediate use, and conducted, primarily, by public speaking expert, Constance Bernstein, and knowledgeable legal trainer and IBJ Training Director, Kellie Krake.

Above: Kellie Krake, IBJ Training Director, teaching the theory of the case to Country Fellows. (Photo by Liam Hanlon)

Above: Burundi Fellow Astère Muyango trying his hand at the opening statement (Photo by Liam Hanlon)

It is important that the skills acquired by Fellows during the training are sustainable, translatable, and are eventually passed on to local lawyers, so that defenders capacity can be strengthened. Trainers gave Fellows the tools they need to communicate those same lessons to their peers. The Fellows were thus taught how to teach advocacy skills, mentor their peers and had interactive sessions in which they taught and gave constructive criticism to mock “students”.

Above: Cambodia Fellow Ouk Vandeth presents the closing argument of his case (Photo by Liam Hanlon)

To foster team-building, Fellows were invited – through a unique conversational process called “Justice Café Discussions” (inspired from the World Café Methodology) – to explore their personal stories, their fundamental motivations for pursuing a legal career and the  areas of improvement of their programs. They were requested to form models of what their legal system could become within the next twenty years if given adequate resources. Universally, each Country Fellow aspired to have a strong justice system that upheld due process rights for indigent accused persons. Successes and challenges in each country, however, varied.  In Burundi, where no pro bono culture was established, the seeds of interest in pro bono work have been planted and are beginning to sprout. On the other hand, the Cambodia program is beginning to focus on sustainability in response to its challenge of transferring power to the people.

Above: First Justice Café Discussion on the Fellows’ aspirations for their justice system (Photo by Liam Hanlon)

Above: Justice Café Discussion on areas of improvement of country programs (Photo by Liam Hanlon)

The Summit in Singapore also had a number of fellowship opportunities. The focus of the fellowship was to build a community amongst the fellows, and between fellows and those legal actors in the Singapore area that have an interest in the work of IBJ. One such event was a dinner at the home of Subhas Anandan, a renown Singaporean criminal defense attorney and founder and first President of the Association of Criminal Lawyers of Singapore. Here, Fellows were able to discuss cultural differences and nuances in, as well as the importance of, access to counsel and pro bono criminal counsel. Additionally, at a networking event hosted by the American law firm Latham and Watkins’s Singapore office, fellows, IBJ staff members, and criminal and corporate lawyers were able to come together.  This was a valuable event, as private sector practitioners were able to hear, first-hand, about the work that IBJ does, and were introduced to both Country Fellows and JusticeMaker Fellows.

Above: Criminal Defense Lawyer Subhas Anandan sharing his poignant story with the Country Fellows (Photo by Liam Hanlon)

JusticeMakers Fellows Summit

The 2010 JusticeMakers Competition focused on Asia, and the eight winners of the competition were flown to Singapore to participate in the Summit and attend the gala. During August 11 through August 17, 2010, the JusticeMakers gathered for a Summit during which they were introduced and welcomed formally to IBJ, presented their projects, participated in discussion groups and team-building exercises, and attended lectures and training sessions.

Above: Burundi Fellow, India Fellow and Zimbabwe Fellow sharing a moment of complicity (Photo by Liam Hanlon)

A particularly interesting session in the JusticeMakers Summit was the revelation of current trends in the justice systems in various countries. JusticeMakers, during a confidential session, were able to speak candidly about the realities and challenges of the criminal justice system in their countries. The first-hand knowledge gained during this session is invaluable to the work of IBJ, particularly in their interest to extend programming efforts into other countries.

Above: JusticeMakers Fellows from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam sharing their vision of a fair and efficient justice system (Photo by Liam Hanlon)

Above: Pakistan JusticeMaker presenting his vision of a fair justice system in Pakistan (Photo by Liam Hanlon)

Led by Country Fellows, the JusticeMakers were able to participant in discussion sessions and present their individual projects to IBJ staff, Country Fellows and other JusticeMaker Fellows. Both the discussion groups and presentations allowed them to express the frustrations of their work, and, more importantly, their method of change to correct the shortcomings of the justice system in their country. More importantly, these sessions created a sense of community amongst the attendees.

Similar to Country Fellows, JusticeMaker Fellows attended training sessions, during which they were taught skills critical to their work as criminal justice advocates, including standards for defense practice and trial skills, basic negotiation skills and leadership and fostering motivation. The training sessions were taught by motivational speakers, IBJ staff members, and Singaporean lawyers and experts.

Finally, JusticeMaker Fellows, in addition to Country Fellows, were given the opportunity to meet and hear lectures from prominent lawyers and advocates from the area. One particularly moving lecture was entitled Projecting Lawyers When At Risk and was given by Persida Acosta, a chief public attorney in the Philippines. She spoke about the dangers lawyers face and how to overcome the psychological pressures of these dangers and remain safe, using her own riveting story as an example.

Above: PAO Persida advising Fellows on possible mechanisms of self-security (Photo by Liam Hanlon)

Above: IBJ Country Fellows and Geneva management team at the close of the Country Fellows Summit (Photo by Liam Hanlon)

On Friday, United States federal public defender, Anthony Natale gave detailed lectures on developing a theory on the case and cross examination, providing training on practical skills that attendants found helpful and said that they would use in their day-to-day practice.

In addition, distinguished Zimbabwean lawyer Alex Muchadehama gave a presentation on the security of criminal lawyers in Zimbabwe, highlighting that lawyers should call upon the state to enforce already existing measures to ensure their safety.In an enlightening discussion, lawyers spoke about the current state Zimbabwe and what this means for the legal system. Politically, they agreed, the inclusive government has lead to a number of legislative political compromises, which have particularly affected local criminal law. Additionally, separation of powers appears to have ceased to exist. The current economic status, they noticed, has lead to a number of problems within the criminal justice system, including mass corruption throughout the justice system, where bribes have become commonplace.

On Saturday, Anthony Natale led a cross-examination demonstration, in which every attending attorney had the chance to develop and ask questions of mock witnesses. Each participating lawyer, which was over 99% of the lawyers in attendance, found this to be the most practical and educational portion of the day.

Distinguished University of Zimbabwe Professor Feltoe gave a lecture on the importance of an independent judiciary, in which he highlighted problems of corruption and political interdependence that can be found in almost any country but particularly have plagued the criminal justice system in Zimbabwe as of late. He outlined how the Constitution of Zimbabwe, African Commission principles, UN principles, and Bagalore principles all require judicial independence , but formal legal pronouncements are not enough and that implementation and observation are fundamentally important.

The lawyers in attendance spoke about the values that they, as Zimbabwean lawyers, share, which include hope, endurance, commitment and professionalism. As a constituency of lawyers, they pledged to stand up for their shared values in order to break away from the cycle of corruption in the justice system and change the Zimbabwe criminal justice system for the better.

Specifically, the case against the state argues that the death penalty offends human dignity, constitutes inhumane and degrading punishment, and amounts to an arbitrary deprivation of life, all in breach of express or implicit provisions of the Zimbabwe Constitution. In addition to the aforementioned constitutional violations, the fact that a sentence of death is mandatory also denies citizens of their right to fair trial, violates the principle of separation of powers by depriving the judiciary of one of their essential functions, and, in practice, discriminates against indigent accused persons.

The petitioner describes hanging, the method used in Zimbabwe, as “horrendous, barbaric, inhumane, brutal, and uncivilized.” It focuses on the significant delays characteristic of Zimbabwe’s death row, stating that delays in execution lead to anxiety and severe emotional and physical trauma, particularly given current prison conditions. The case centers on the idea that prisoners retain some rights, even after conviction. Most fundamentally, under Zimbabwe’s Constitution, it maintains that all citizens have a right to be free from arbitrary deprivation of life and a right not to be subjected to cruel, inhumane and degrading punishments.

Though the last execution happened in 2003, currently, there are at least 49 prisoners on death row at Harare Central Prison. In the past, executions have been suspended for years due to a lack of a public hangman. While they wait, prisoners on death row have to deal with horrendous prison conditions. In Zimbabwe, twenty-five men are held in a single nine meters by four meters cell. Food portions are meager and consist of barely edible or spoilt food. Unsanitary conditions in both the over-crowded cells and the kitchen threaten the wellbeing of all prisoners.

Innocent became involved in this case after a junior lawyer at his law firm, assigned to the matter on a pro bono basis, represented Mazango during the trial in which he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Immediately, they decided to challenge the death penalty based on his sentence. For the purposes of monitoring the progress of the case closely and media interface, it was filed through Maja and Associates, Innocent’s law firm. Thus far, an application to the court has been filed, and both Innocent and Mazango await the state’s response, while the legal team prepares heads of argument to file with the court.

A number of state-sponsored Zimbabwe newspapers have featured Sheperd Mazango’s case, giving it a fair amount of in-state media attention. Recently, international newspapers have also expressed interest in the case. This attention comes as a result of interest and awareness in Zimbabwe on the rights of the accused. Conversely, the case and the media attention it receives are likely to attract a wider audience to the debate on the death penalty and rights retained by the accused in Zimbabwe.

According to Innocent, “Most indigent persons in Zimbabwe, who cannot afford legal counsel, are given inexperienced lawyers to represent them. Oftentimes, this leads to conviction and death sentences. It is a denial of justice. The death penalty is atrocious, in that it takes away human life. Once a human life is taken away, the rights of that person are taken away as well. The mode of killing (i.e. hanging) is horrendous, inhumane, and degrading. It is torturous.”