Sim Dalis, DRC Coordinator and client, Sok Chea

Sok Chea is sixty years old, and lives in small house in a remote village in between Takeo and Kampot. In his younger days he worked as a barber, but age has made him frail and he cannot stand for long, so he now works as a wedding photographer on occasion.

When Sok Chea gave his brother some fish as a present several months ago, he hardly expected the devastating effects it would have on his life. Unbeknownst to him, his brother owed debts to a third party who lived nearby, and when they saw he had received these fish they took it upon themselves to settle their debt by taking fish from Sok Chea’s lake. They constructed a fence on Sok Chea’s property which they decided made it acceptable for them to take however many fish they wanted from his lake, and as such they proceeded to steal many of Sok Chea’s fish. Sok Chea tried to get evidence of them stealing his property by filming them taking the fish and putting up the fence, but when they saw this they took his camera. Furthermore, when there were not enough fish to pay back the debt, they broke the lock on his house and changed it, they wanted to take his house as repayment for his brother’s debt.

As an older person who could only do so much to protect his property, Sok Chea needed the help of the law, so decided he needed to file a complaint with the court. He approached another local NGO, who did not have time to represent him in court, but were able to help him draft two complaints. First, he made a complaint under Article 299 of the Criminal Code of Cambodia for breaking and entering, and controlling property, which was unsuccessful because of a lack of evidence. Next, he filed his second complaint against them for intentionally causing damage to his property under Article 410 of the Criminal Code of Cambodia. Again, his complaint also was unsuccessful, because again the other side’s lawyer was able to prove to the judge that there was not enough evidence for a conviction.

Sok Chea did not have a lawyer to represent him in court for either of these complaints, and with courts hugely partial to any party that has a lawyer to represent them, he had little chance of realistically obtaining a successful verdict. He also unfortunately made the mistake of missing his first day in court, due to a mix-up in his paper work. Sok Chea did not receive any compensation for the crimes committed against him. His brother did end up paying his debt back over the course of the court action, so he did gain a little relief from the situation.

Legal Program Associate Darius Rohani-Shukla and client Sok Chea

However, the story did not end there as his defeats were compounded by the fact that the defendants decided to file a complaint against him for slanderous denunciation. They claimed that he had defamed them by filing the previous complaints. Again, they were successful again in court, and as a result he was ordered to pay them a compensation of four million riels (approximately 1000 USD).

At this point, he reached out to the IBJ lawyer, Ly Kosal, who works in the Takeo province, as he had heard about IBJ’s work on the radio. Kosal was able to argue that this case should be appealed, as there had not been nearly enough time for a lawyer to prepare due to the case’s timing after the Khmer New Year. As a result, the case was transferred to the Appeal Court, where the IBJ lawyer who worked there was able to represent Sok Chea.

There, the IBJ lawyer, Kin Vibol, was able to get Sok Chea acquitted so he did not have to pay the compensation originally awarded. Without the lawyer’s intervention, he would have been forced to pay the compensation or would potentially have ended up in jail. The case was not difficult for Vibol, but without IBJ’s help, there is very little chance Sok Chea would have had any successful result from the Appeal Court.

Today, Sok Chea is incredibly thankful for IBJ’s work in his case. He is now very aware of the value of a lawyer in Cambodia, as without representation he would have received no justice in his case. He would likely have ended up owing money to the original parties who were stealing from him, and it all would have started from him giving his brother a few fish as a present.

Sokem and Sophoes, IBJ Lawyer Assistant at the Court of Appeal in front of IBJ office in Phnom Penh

Sokem was living in a village nearby and had already been to see Veng and his family in the surroundings. On December 31, 2004, he was arrested by judicial police officers. Sokem did not understand what was happening and he was taken straight to the prison, to be held in pretrial detention. From that day on, he was to stay in jail for ten years. Shortly after his arrest and detention, he was taken to court where he was informed that he was charged with premeditated murder and use of illegal weapon, incurring life imprisonment according to article 200 of the Cambodian Criminal Code. No one informed him of his right to seek legal representation. He was languishing, waiting in prison prior to being summoned for his trial on March 13, 2006.

Before the first trial hearing, the court assigned Sokem a lawyer that he just met one time before the lawyer had to defend his case in front of the judges. Sokem did not know whether he was a private lawyer, or a lawyer from the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia, assigned to represent his case pro bono. As a matter of fact, he was charged with a felony and, in this case, legal representation at the trial hearing is mandated by the Cambodian Criminal Code of Procedure.

At that point, Sokem still did not know why he had been arrested and he did not understand the criminal procedure which was unfolding before his eyes. For the first hearing, Veng’s family who had joined the procedure as civil parties gave confused answers about the description of the alleged perpetrators. During the second trial hearing, they presented witnesses who did not clearly remember the physical appearance of the offender. But when they saw Sokem, they affirmed that they knew him. The court followed their testimony and sentenced Sokem to 15 years of imprisonment. Sokem does not remember what his lawyer said for his defense at that time, but he had clearly not brought exculpatory evidence in favor of his client. Yet, after the announcement of the decision, the lawyer advised Sokem to appeal the judgment. After that, Sokem did not hear anything on the development of his case. He was still in the Correction Center 3, a provincial prison located in the neighboring province of Kampong Cham, and only knew that his cases had been sent to Phnom Penh for the appeal process.

The Court of Appeal opened the case on February 19, 2010, six years after the fact. Sokem was not informed of the hearing and was not able to attend it. In compliance with Cambodian criminal procedure, when the accused does not appear for trial and there is no proof that he had knowledge of his citation to the court hearing, the Court of Appeal issued a “default judgment” in his absence². In this decision, the Court of Appeal upheld Sokem’s sentence.

Late 2014, IBJ received the case as part of one of its projects with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHOCHR) in Cambodia. Sokem’s case was one on the list of people identified by the UNOHCHR with appeal proceedings pending for more than five years and with no trace of their trial documents. The IBJ lawyer and lawyer assistant investigated at the Court of Appeal on Sokem’s case and found out that he was never notified of the Court of Appeal’s hearing and judgment. The IBJ team met Sokem in prison and informed him of the current status of his case. In these circumstances, the only action available for the defense of the accused person is to submit a motion against the default judgment once the accused has got actual knowledge of it. The motion has the effect of voiding the judgment which was issued in the absence of the accused. The IBJ lawyer submitted the motion to the Court of Appeal on December 24, 2014. As a result, the Court of Appeal had to entirely re-examine Sokem’s case.

In preparation for the new hearing, the IBJ lawyer met with Sokem’s family and friends and found out that he had an alibi against the accusation which had already cost him heavily. His friends could testify that at the time of the incident, Sokem was fishing with them in another place, far from the crime scene.

The IBJ lawyer convinced the witnesses to provide their testimony at the Court of Appeal, while at the same time arranging Sokem’s transportation for the 225 km separating CC3 from Phnom Penh for him to attend his trial. During the trial hearing, on February 20, 2015, the lawyer called the witnesses who, by their testimony, brought in the case an important exculpatory element. The lawyer also backed his defense strategy on the civil party’s hesitations and unclear answers regarding the identification of the offender. Becoming convinced of the weaknesses of the accusation against Sokem, the Court of Appeal acquitted him.

After 10 years spent in jail in very unclear circumstances, Sokem was able to walk out of the court room cleared of all charges when the Court of Appeal announced its final decision on March 9, 2015. Before this misfortune, Sokem did not know that organizations such as IBJ existed. He went through a very difficult time in prison, lacking proper food, appropriate care when he fell sick, and with only one or two visits from his family per year. His wife and four children could not afford frequent travels to the prison. Sokem entirely feels the meaning of the five years of imprisonment he was saved from thanks to IBJ’s intervention. Still recovering from this painful experience, Sokem is taking time to rest before having to find a new job to support his family and ensure that they have a brighter future.

Jeanne Salomé, March 2015

« Malgré l’extrême pauvreté, les conséquences des guerres à répétition, la grande discrimination et le défaut d’intérêt des acteurs, il est possible d’accorder une protection juridique effective aux personnes vivant avec le VIH au Sud-Kivu ; il suffit juste d’y croire et d’oser ».

Touché par des problèmes que rencontrent les personnes porteuses du VIH-Sida en matière d’accès à la justice (notamment en milieux ruraux en RDC en général et au Sud-Kivu en particulier), problèmes dus notamment à la grande discrimination dont elles font l’objet, à l’ignorance des violateurs et des victimes, aux coutumes discriminatoires, à l’extrême pauvreté des populations rurales en RDC et à la non-diffusion des dispositions et décisions protégeant les personnes ci-avant reprises dans un document d’accès facile aux acteurs de leur protection, j’ai postulé au prix « Justice Makers 2012 » d’IBJ qui leur est spécialement dédié et ai soumis le projet  intitulé Un taxi pour l’assistance judiciaire gratuite et l’accès  aux droits des  détenus atteints du VIH à la prison de Kavumu dans le territoire de Kabare au Sud-Kivu en République Démocratique du Congo.

Ce projet vise à contribuer à la résolution de la question jusqu’ici peu débattue de la protection juridique et juridictionnelle  des droits des personnes atteintes du VIH  en RDC (par le truchement, entre autres, de l’assistance judiciaire gratuite devant aboutir à contribuer à l’élaboration d’une jurisprudence favorable aux droits de ces personnes, la réalisation d’une étude sur l’état des lieux de la protection législative et juridictionnelle des droits de ces dernières et l’organisation d’un atelier de renforcement des capacités en matière de protection de ces personnes en RDC, en faveur des acteurs judiciaires, pénitentiaires, sanitaires, coutumiers et de la société civile).

Le choix de l’intitulé, un peu curieux,  a été inspiré du constat d’après lequel les besoins des personnes vivant avec le VIH-Sida dans le territoire de Kabare sont énormes et les victimes nombreuses, au point que le seul prix d’IBJ ne servira qu’à amorcer un processus dont la continuation après le délai d’exécution de trois activités prévues s’impose. Tout en comptant sur l’appui d’autres potentiels donateurs, j’ai jugé utile de développer, avec le prix reçu, une activité génératrice des revenus qui seront au final affectés à la réalisation  et à la pérennisation du projet. Le choix a porté sur un taxi au regard de la rentabilité de l’exploitation de ce dernier et de l’éloignement de la juridiction concernée par le projet par rapport à la ville de Bukavu où vivent les Avocats et/ou Défenseurs judiciaires devant assister les victimes (ce taxi pourra donc contribuer à la mobilisation des revenus et au transport des victimes et leurs Conseils de la ville à Kavumu où se dérouleront les audiences et seront formés les acteurs ci-avant repris).

Le gros d’efforts du gouvernement et des ONGs ont été concentrés sur l’aspect sanitaire des problèmes des personnes vivant avec le VIH, mais personne ne s’est, jusqu’ici, intéressé à leur protection juridique et juridictionnelle, en dépit de l’inscription dans le Document de croissance et de stratégie de réduction de la pauvreté du Gouvernement congolais pour 2011-2015. D’ailleurs, même l’assistance médicale n’atteint pas de manière efficace les détenus porteurs du VIH qui sont traités comme tous les autres co-détenus (n’accèdent donc pas aux soins), encore que là qu’une moindre prise en charge médicale est assurée aux détenus porteurs du VIH (par exemple la distribution des antirétroviraux ou l’accès aux services de l’Infirmier ou du Médecin traitant), ceux des milieux ruraux n’y accèdent pas (c’est le cas de la prison de Kavumu ne comportant aucun agent sanitaire dans le personnel pénitentiaire, alors que ne cesse de gonfler le nombre de sa population carcérale).   Le  prix « Justice Makers 2012 »  qui m’a été accordé me permettra donc de lancer le débat en la matière et d’apporter de l’aide à ces personnes.

Depuis novembre 2007, je suis Défenseur judiciaire près les Tribunaux du ressort de la Cour d’Appel de Bukavu, ai assisté beaucoup d’indigents en matière d’accès à la justice par devant les tribunaux de Bukavu et d’Uvira (y compris par devant ses sièges secondaires de Kavumu et Kamituga). Après mes études secondaires en pédagogie générale, j’ai obtenu une licence en Droit Public à l’Université Catholique de Bukavu en RDC où je suis également Assistant d’enseignement et de recherche, un Master 1 en Droit international des droits de l’Homme et un Master 2 en Pratique des organisations internationales et protection des droits de l’Homme à l’Institut des droits de l’Homme de l’Université Catholique de Lyon en France.

Content et fier de l’honneur m’accordé en faisant figurer mon nom sur la liste des Fellows de ce prix au titre de l’année 2012 et me permettant d’accomplir mon rêve qui est celui d’apporter de l’aide aux nécessiteux et vulnérables de ma communauté, je remercie IBJ, les juges et la Fondation Lévi Strauss. Aux autres lauréats et à la grande communauté des Justice Makers, je dis un tout grand merci et, fort de l’appartenance à ce grand réseau, j’espère et souhaite bénéficier de la collaboration des lauréats dans la réalisation des activités de mon projet.

Enfin, je remercie ma famille, mes amis, l’UCB et l’IDHL  d’avoir largement contribué à faire de moi ce que je suis.

A prison guard removes the handcuffs from the client Mao Rom before the trial starts.

Hundreds of thousands of people identified as drug users in China and across Southeast Asia are held without due process in centers where they may be subjected to torture, and physical and sexual violence in the name of “treatment”, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released in July.

International donors and United Nations agencies have supported and funded drug detention centers that systematically deny people rights to effective HIV and drug dependency treatment, and have ignored forced labor and abuse.

The 23-page document, Torture in the Name of Treatment: Human Rights Abuses in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, and Lao PDR, summarizes research with individuals who had been detained in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, and Lao PDR. More than 350,000 people identified as drug users are detained in the name of “treatment” in these countries for periods of up to five years. In many centers, drug users are held alongside homeless people, people with psychosocial disabilities, and street children, and are forced to perform military drills, chant slogans, and work as “therapy.”

International health and drug-control agencies, including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and the World Health Organization, recommend comprehensive, community-based harm reduction services, including evidence-based drug-dependence treatment and access to sterile syringes as essential to protect the health and human rights of people who use drugs. Drug detention centers that hold drug users for long periods of time without providing evidence-based treatment violate these standards and are widely believed to be ineffective. Research in China and Vietnam has found high rates of relapse among individuals held in drug detention centers, as well as increased risk of HIV infection from being detained.

Depending on the country, so-called treatment consists of a regime of military drills, forced labor, psychological and moral re-education, and shackling, caning, and beating. Human Rights Watch documented forced labor in detention centers in China, Vietnam, and Cambodia, though the nature and extent of forced labor varied within and between countries.

In Vietnam, “labor therapy” is stipulated as part of drug treatment by law, and drug detention centers are little more than forced labor camps where tens of thousands of detainees work six days a week processing cashews, sewing garments, or manufacturing other items. Refusing to work, or violating center rules, results in punishment that in some cases is torture. Quynh Luu, a former detainee who was caught trying to escape from one center, described his punishment: “First they beat my legs so that I couldn’t run off again… [Then] they shocked me with an electric baton [and] kept me in the punishment room for a month.”

Access to drug dependency treatment within the centers was either restricted to a small subset of the center’s population, who were also required to adhere to a rigid and punishing forced labor regimen, or nonexistent. Huong Son, who was detained for four years in a drug detention center in Vietnam, said, “No treatment for the disease of addiction was available there. Once a month or so we marched around for a couple of hours chanting slogans.”

Human Rights Watch also found evidence that children were detained in drug detention centers in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Lao PDR, and subjected to the same “treatments,” including forced labor, military exercises, and physical and sexual abuse.

“Drug detention centers jeopardize the health and human rights of detainees,” said Joe Amon, director of the Health and Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. “They are ineffective, abusive, and are detaining people in violation of international law.” Mandatory HIV testing was common in China’s drug treatment centers, but test results were not always disclosed to patients. A former detainee in Guangxi Province, China, said, “I was tested in detox twice for HIV but was never told the result. Then when I got out I was so sick that I went to the clinic. I was scared of getting arrested, but I have a son and I didn’t want to die. They tested me and told me I have AIDS.” Unprotected sex and unsafe drug use occur in the treatment centers, but condoms and safe injecting equipment are not available.

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In Feburary 2011, attorney Shahanur Islam, 2010 JusticeMakers Fellow from Bangladesh, took up Mrs. Kolpona’s defense and conducted an interview with her at the Dhaka prison center. One year later in April 2012, Shananur Islam and attorney Mohammad Alamgir, from JusticeMakers Bangladesh, appeared in the Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Dhaka and got her released from custody.

This is only one of the many cases that our 2010 JusticeMaker Fellow solved by providing direct support to the victims of human rights violations and injustices. Furthermore, by conducting a fact-finding investigation, he found out facts which helped to lobby the authorities by issuing urgent appeal, which was helpful in receiving justice.

During his project execution, he also ran training sessions to reduce torture and promote respect for human rights. Professionals from a variety of sectors attended these sessions: lawyers, police officers and prison officials, journalists, judicial officials and human rights activists. These people then joined the unofficial network of people around the world battling against torture and other human rights violation.

It wasn’t easy for Shananur Islam to implement his project. He faced a lot of challenges while doing his job: “I have received repeated threats, death threats, intimidation, arbitrary arrest, detention, ill treatment, physical assault and harassment by the law and security personnel and also from local pressure groups due to my activity and voice against torture,” claims our JusticeMakers Fellow.

The project period has since passed, and all the proposed activities have been completed in a timely fashion. “I think my participation was interactive and the victims who received direct support are pleased and grateful about our [IBJ’s] support”, says Islam.

However, as a human rights defender, 2010 JusticeMakers Fellow Shahanur Islam is continuing his activities upholding human rights in Bangladesh. He is still working for the victims of torture and extrajudicial killing as well as victims of injustice who may be in prison due to financial inability, and people living in vulnerable conditions. The professionals trained during his JusticeMakers project are  assets to him, supporting him continuously by providing information and assisting additional people.

“The project is good enough, but for better results, we need to continue it in the long-term. We need to make a strong network in every district and build a core group of volunteers to help us conduct the training lessons, fact find, issue urgent appeals, and other activities”.

Según un estudio del Gobierno de Bolivia sobre la situación de las cárceles bolivianas, los  privados de libertad llegan a estos lugares por  robo/hurto, asalto, violación, lesiones a otras personas, por  ser consumidores de sustancias prohibidas, etc. Y de hecho, algunos de ellos están mejor dentro de la cárcel, donde encuentran descanso a las persecuciones y  agresiones vividas en el exterior. Sin embargo, también están aquellos que en el transcurso de una larga sentencia, perdieron a su familia y todo vínculo con el exterior. La liberación representa una gran angustia, pues en muchas ocasiones permanecen simplemente sentados  esperando que pase el tiempo de sus condenas. Esto implica un doble castigo, pues no sólo se someten a la pérdida de su libertad, sino también a las pésimas condiciones que existen al interior de la cárcel. Las políticas estatales  no hacen mucho para los privados de libertad, que están desamparados sin visión ni perspectiva en su vida.

Mabel y Verónica Marisol –también JusticeMaker 2011, han tenido la ocasión de encontrarse en Bolivia un par de veces (aunque viven en diferentes partes del país) y de visitar las cárceles juntas. Las prisiones están extremadamente abarrotadas y es frecuente que los detenidos pasen meses en prisión sin acceso a un abogado. Generalmente ingresan en prisión con sus familias, lo que significa que sus hijos viven ahí también en malísimas condiciones mientras sus padres cumplen con sus sentencias [véase la foto de la izquierda].

El 22% de reos en Bolivia está en Cochabamba, que cuenta con seis cárceles. Más de 1.200 muchachos viven en las prisiones bolivianas y concretamente, la situación en la cárcel de San Sebastián (Cochabamba), donde Mabel ha realizado talleres de formación, es tan infrahumana que el techo se está cayendo, tienen un baño para 650 internos, y además el preso tiene que comprarse su propia celda (entre 500 y 1.500 dólares) porque el Estado no la provee por falta de fondos.

Con su proyecto, Mabel “ha aprendido a compartir”. Dice que “parece una palabra sencilla pero encierra muchas cosas: revisar procesos, compartir experiencias, ayudarles en sus causas y encaminarse a otras, conocer a sus familias, etc.”. El objetivo de Mabel es entrenar a los profesionales que representan a los acusados para asegurar que los detenidos tienen acceso a la justicia eficazmente y proveer de formación a los acusados. De esta manera, sabrán por qué han sido detenidos, los derechos que les protegen y las obligaciones una vez que obtengan su libertad.

Dice que “el proyecto ha sido un éxito entre los internos del centro penitenciario de San Sebastián”, creó una revista con dibujos del procedimiento penal para que aprendieran más fácilmente de qué se trata, han asistido a los talleres dispuestos a aprender y realizan simulacros de juicios para que sepan actuar en los juicios orales. Según Mabel, “Lo más importante del proyecto es que son los mismos detenidos los que colaboran con los demás, puesto que la información que se les ha transmitido la replican entre sus compañeros, lo que ha efectivizado el proyecto sobre el conocimiento de sus derechos.”.

Tras su experiencia trabajando en el centro de San Sebastián, Mabel afirma que es difícil avanzar en el proceso con los profesionales, pues cada 3 meses cambian a los funcionarios de Régimen penitenciario y todo el trabajo que se realiza con ellos debe ser nuevamente repetido para los nuevos. Cree que su proyecto tendría un mayor impacto si pudiera organizar jornadas con la prensa y otras instituciones comprometidas al régimen penitenciario.

For English version, click here.

Mabel Jenny Antezana Arispe is one of the winners of the 2011 JusticeMakers competition organized by International Bridges to Justice. She graduated in Law and Politics and post-graduated in Criminology, has been a member of the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights for over ten years, taught Roman Law at the Universidad Mayor de San Simon and has been a practicing lawyer in Bolivia since 1997.

According to a study by the Government of Bolivia about the situation in the Bolivian prisons, most inmates are incarcerated for robbery, assault, rape, injury to others, and for consuming illegal substances. The study also states that these inmates are better off in jail, where they are safe from persecutions and attacks outside. However, those individuals who are incarcerated for an extended period of time have the risk of losing their families and their connections to the outside world.  Lengthy detainments result in a double punishment, because the inmates not only lose their freedom, but they are also subject to terrible prison conditions. State policies do not do much for the prisoners and those who are imprisoned are rendered helpless.

Mabel and Verónica Marisol –who is a 2011 JusticeMaker too, have had the chance to visit the Bolivian prisons together. Prisons are extremely overcrowded and pretrial detainees frequently spend months in prison without access to counsel. Generally, they are taken to jail with their family, which means that children live in prisons in terrible conditions, with their parents while the parents are serving their sentences [see the picture on the left].

In Bolivia, 22% of the inmates are in Cochabamba, which has six prisons. More than 1,200 youth live in the Bolivian prisons. The San Sebastian prison (Cochabamba), is where Mabel has been organizing training workshops. The situation in San Sebastian prison is so dire that the ceiling is falling down, they have one toilet for 650 inmates, and each prisoner has to buy his own cell (between 500 and 1,500 dollars) because the State does not provide them due to a lack of funds.

With her JusticeMakers project, Mabel “has learned to share”. She says that “it looks like a simple word but it involves so many things: looking through proceedings, sharing experiences, helping them in their cases and heading towards others, meeting their families, etc.”. Mabel’s goal is to train the professionals that represent the accused in order to ensure that detainees have access to justice effectively and to provide training to the accused. The goal is that detainees will know why they were arrested, the rights that protect them and their obligations once they are free.

She says that “the project has been a success for the inmates in the penitentiary centre of San Sebastian”. At San Sebastian, Mabel has distributed a pamphlet with pictures of the penal procedures to educate inmates on the proccess. She also gave workshops on the penal process at the prison and the attendees were very willing to learn. She conducted judgment drills as well, to  to train inmates on how to behave at a court proceeding. According to Mabel, “The most important part of the Project is that the detainees are the ones that collaborate with the rest, since the information transmitted passes around the others, which made the project effective about knowledge of their rights.”.

After her experience working in the centre of San Sebastian, Mabel says that it is difficult to move forward in the course with the professionals because the prison officers would be replaced every 3 months so all the work that she carried out with them needs to be repeated over again on the new ones. She believes, though, that her project would have a bigger impact if she could organize conferences with the press and other institutions committed to the penitentiary system.

2011 JusticeMakers Mª Paz Martínez Irigotia

María de la Paz Martínez Irigoitia  is one of the winners of the 2011 JusticeMakers competition organized by International Bridges to Justice. She has been a practicing lawyer in Paraguay since 1997, is currently the Political law I and II Professor at Universidad Catolica and also writing her doctoral thesis on the “Current Problems of Penal Law” for the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain.

María de la Paz is a Criminal Public Defender for adults (individuals who are 18-plus years), and she works in Paraguay, Asuncion. Last 15th of September, the Law No. 4.431/11 came into force in Paraguay, changing the article 245 of the Criminal Procedure Code. This Law prohibits the use of alternatives to detention for individuals who have prior convictions and have been arrested on a new case, but have not been convicted. This has resulted in a disproportionate increase of the prison population. The male prison houses 3,051 inmates, with 2097 pretrial detainees and 954 convicted. The women’s prison has a population of 199 inmates, of which 127 are pretrial detainees and 72 convicted. Prison overpopulation -and consequently, the poor health conditions-   has been a major problem for decades. Inmates are often economically disadvantaged, from extreme poverty to lower middle class, and most of them have not completed primary education. Many of them have had multiple experiences with the criminal justice system and are unemployed or underemployed.

The main subject of her JusticeMakers Project is the access to justice through strategic alliances between lawyers and doctors. Her goal within the next months is to get at least two doctors to be part of her project. She considers it important to work together as a lawyer, technically collaborating in the public legal field where they might eventually be useful to each other. It is critical that lawyers join the project, since the rights to health and healthy eating are often violated in this prisons. In addition, tuberculosis is the most common disease among inmates, which is highly contagious in such crowded conditions.

Maria de la Paz says that the help of doctors on the lawyers’ work has led to “a clear emphasis on lightness of the defendants, quicker justice, less vulnerability to their situation, faster resolution of cases, as well as a fight against impunity for torture and abuse.” María de la Paz is proud of having started through her work a crucial approach between two institutions that never had contact or worked together before, and to facilitate a platform so in the future they can keep collaborating and working together, such as the Public Defender’s Office and the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the National University.

2011 JusticeMakers Mª Paz Martínez Irigotia

María de la Paz Martínez Irigoitia es una de nuestros ganadores del concurso JusticeMakers 2011 organizado por International Bridges to Justice. Ha sido abogada practicante en Paraguay desde 1997, trabaja como Profesora responsable de Derecho Político I y II en la Universidad Católica y también está haciendo su doctorado sobre “Los problemas actuales del Derecho Penal” para la Universidad de Salamanca, España.

María de la Paz es Defensora Pública Penal de adultos (desde 18 años), y su área de trabajo es la capital de Paraguay, Asunción. El pasado 15 de septiembre de este mismo año, entró en vigor en Paraguay la ley Nº  4.431/11, que modifica el artículo 245 del Código Procesal Penal. Esta Ley prohíbe la aplicación de medidas alternativas a la prisión preventiva a las personas que sean reincidentes, es decir, que tengan procesos penales pendientes, aunque no estén condenados. Esto hace que se aumente de manera desmedida la población carcelaria. De hecho, la cárcel de varones cuenta con una población de 3.051 internos, entre ellos 2.097 procesados y 954 condenados. La cárcel de mujeres tiene una población de 199 internas, 127 procesadas y 72 condenadas. Por tanto, la superpoblación –y como consecuencia, las pésimas condiciones sanitarias- ha sido un problema capital durante décadas. Estas personas suelen ser de escasos recursos económicos, desde la extrema pobreza hasta incluso personas de clase media baja, la mayoría no tiene terminada la educación primaria básica y su nivel cultural también es muy precario. Muchos son reincidentes, ya han pasado por el sistema penal; y otros muchos son personas sin empleo o subempleadas.

El tema principal de su Proyecto JusticeMakers es concretamente el acceso a la justicia a través de alianzas estratégicas entre abogados y doctores. Su objetivo en los próximos meses es conseguir al menos dos doctores para que sean parte de su proyecto. Considera importante trabajar con ellos como abogada, colaborando técnicamente en el campo legal público donde podrían ser útiles respectivamente. Ya ha necesitado de su ayuda previamente, pues se vulneran frecuentemente el derecho a la salud y a una alimentación sana, entre otros. Además, la tuberculosis es la enfermedad más frecuente entre los internos, la cual por las condiciones de aglomeración es altamente contagiosa.

María de la Paz afirma que la ayuda de los médicos junto al trabajo de los abogados ha llevado a “una clara ligereza de atención a los defendidos, pronta justicia, menor vulnerabilidad ante su situación, mayor celeridad en la resolución de las causas, así como una lucha contra la impunidad de casos de tortura y malos tratos”. María de la Paz está orgullosa de haber iniciado a través de su gestión un acercamiento crucial entre dos instituciones que no tuvieron antecedentes de contacto ni trabajo conjunto, y posibilitar una plataforma para que en un futuro puedan seguir colaborando y trabajar conjuntamente, como es la Defensoría Pública y la Facultad de Ciencias Médicas de la Universidad Nacional.

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2011 JusticeMaker Adriana Patricia Castaño Román

Adriana Patricia Castaño es una de nuestros ganadores del concurso JusticeMakers 2011 organizado por International Bridges to Justice. Lleva años trabajando como abogada, particularmente en el campo de los derechos de los jóvenes en la ciudad de Medellín (Colombia). Es activista de la Red Juvenil de Medellín desde 1996 y anteriormente participó en grupos de juventud en el noroeste de Medellín, en actividades de comunidad, y en organizaciones de participación ciudadana que trabajan para el cambio social.

Patricia ha estado organizando actividades para abogados de defensa penal con el objetivo de mejorar sus habilidades legales, pero también entre los estudiantes y grupos jóvenes según la parte de la sociedad que representen (tribus urbanas). Con el proyecto, vio que las personas no tienen un conocimiento claro sobre la legislación actual, lo que propicia  que los agentes puedan abusar de su autoridad sin recibir ninguna resistencia por parte de la población en general. Aunque este tipo de detenciones se presentan en todos los barrios de la ciudad, se observan sectores críticos donde las detenciones son continuas y dirigidas a un tipo de público en especial, como por ejemplo jóvenes salidos del estereotipo de la sociedad cotidiana.

Medellín es una de las ciudades del país con más decretos que limitan la movilización, dirigidos a disminuir la protesta social o la circulación de jóvenes a determinadas horas. La policía, en su tarea por “limpiar la ciudad”, ya ha logrado desplazar a los jóvenes de ciertos sectores, son perseguidos de manera permanente. El derecho a la libertad personal frente a detenciones arbitrarias es un problema en Colombia. Es una violación de derechos humanos cotidiano que parece no ser atendido porque los sujetos víctimas representan el sector “marginal” de sociedad capitalista.

En la ciudad de Medellín, donde nuestra JusticeMaker Patricia ha implementado su proyecto, el motivo para realizar una detención administrativa es la sospecha. Y normalmente, los “sospechosos” o “raros” son los jóvenes que por su apariencia física no corresponden al “patrón normal” establecido (piercings, tatuajes, tribus urbanas…); los que pertenecen a sectores socioeconómicos bajos de la población; los que se dedican a actividades artísticas en la calle (cantantes, vendedores ambulantes…); etc. Son movimientos de detención administrativa abiertamente inconstitucionales y violan derechos fundamentales como la libertad de expresión, la igualdad, la libertad de conciencia, la libre circulación.

La creación de un grupo de trabajo amplio conformado por abogadas/as unido a la buena aceptación de las personas de la ciudad hace que el proyecto tenga muy buenas expectativas en su continuidad y duración en el tiempo por ser la libertad la que siempre está en riesgo en sistemas de corte autoritarios. Han publicado también un blog en internet que contiene las detenciones arbitrarias más recientes en Colombia.

Uno de los objetivos de Patricia es incrementar las denuncias de detenciones arbitrarias y que la gente aprenda cuáles son los límites de la Policía, que conozcan sus derechos para defender su libertad, y que sepan que existen estrategias legales que han de ser aplicadas cuando las detenciones son ilegales. Después de su Proyecto, cuyo fin principal es detener el abuso y las restricciones al derecho de libertad personal de las víctimas jóvenes en Medellín, su idea es seguir trabajando con abogados para proveer servicios a estas personas víctimas de la  detención arbitraria, desde el primer momento del arresto hasta el final del proceso.

International Bridges to Justice agradece su trabajo en hacer respetar el derecho a la libertad de expresión, en contra de las detenciones arbitrarias llevadas a cabo en el ejercicio del mismo. Gracias a activistas como ella, nos acercamos al fin de la injusticia en el mundo.

For English version, click here.