Throughout the past few years, IBJ India has expanded the scope of its operations by working with local partners to improve conditions and resources within prisons. Since 2017, IBJ India has coordinated Project Rupaantar, a rehabilitation initiative for young adults and women detained in Tihar Jail No.5 and No. 6. In collaboration with the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Gem and Jewelry Skill Council of India (GJSCI), and the Delhi Prisons, the project aims to transform the lives of detainees. It empowers them with vocational skills, including imitation jewelry design and glass gem design. Developing such applicable skills will allow inmates to find work following their time in prison and live healthier, more productive lives. After earning a certification, inmates can immediately begin to work and earn money while in jail. By saving these earnings, they can more easily secure housing, food, transportation, and other necessities following their release.

IBJ India chose to implement this program in Jail No. 5 and No.6 because young adults and women are the most economically dependent segments of the adult population. Since so many Indian inmates are illiterate and lack employable skills, they struggle to reintegrate themselves into society and often end up destitute or back behind bars. Indian prisons are required to offer educational services. However, after several jail visits and studying reports by the Department of Prisons, IBJ India observed that the education offered to prisoners is neither enriching nor practical. Though prisons know that their educational services are subpar, they prioritize other crucial issues such as maintenance and security. To begin a new, honest life, inmates need education that directly translates into employment and stability. Project Rupaantar empowers prisoners with a sustainable, practical foundation to begin a new life upon their release.

Recent Developments

On Tuesday, July 30th, 2019, IBJ India conducted an inspection at Tihar Jail No. 5 to assess the progress of the GJSCI artificial jewelry trainings. We are pleased to report that IBJ India has successfully trained approximately 596 inmates thus far. Additionally, there are approximately 50 inmates being currently trained in Tihar Jail No. 5. Aside from those currently receiving training, an additional 416 certificates will be awarded to course graduates from Jail No. 5 and No. 6 before the end of the year. IBJ India is currently planning a ceremony for the inmates in jail, while mailing out certificates for those who have been released. To ensure that compulsory prison duties don’t interfere with their access to education, IBJ India has ensured that morning and night classes are available in both jails.

The inmates being trained are extremely pleased with this unique opportunity to join India’s ancient, yet booming, jewelry industry. With the hard work of the GJSCI and its trainers, the students are thrilled for what their future may hold. IBJ India took the names of the inmates present at the training and is looking forward to connecting the inmates to employment opportunities after their time in jail. Looking forward, GJSCI has guaranteed advanced training and employment opportunities to approximately 800 inmates.

International Bridges to Justice’s India Country Program (IBJ India) strives to create a just society empowered to protect human rights. To this end, legal rights awareness campaigns are a central part of our work. Only those who understand their rights can protect their humanity. In India, much of the population remains unaware of their legal rights and how to access counsel. To educate those in need, IBJ India conducts monthly prison legal awareness events to promote a basic understanding of the rights of inmates, prison standards, and legal aid.

From June 2^nd to June 11^th, 2018, IBJ India visited eight prisons in the Tihar and Rohini Jail Complexes to work with inmates and facilitate a Legal Rights Awareness and Legal Aid Camp. The camp worked with over 1,500 jail inmates. These sessions aimed to educate inmates about their rights and duties within the prison. In particular, IBJ India volunteer lawyers and staff taught inmates how to access free legal counsel, how to file for bail, and the role of legal aid in a just society. Prisoners, administrators, and the IBJ India team worked together to develop an interactive and practical program. A diverse set of activities, trainings, and other educational services created a worthwhile experience for the inmates. Presented in a substantive, yet concise, manner, these lessons were crafted such that people of any educational background could understand them.

IBJ India returned to conduct awareness campaigns in 2019. Using the previous year’s efforts as a foundation, IBJ India tested creative new ways of providing legal awareness to those without literacy. Seeking to bridge the gap between informative workshops and engaging storytelling, IBJ staff put on a skit depicting potential pitfalls in the criminal justice system. This engaging, relatable content resonated with inmates and may allow them to better apply the knowledge they gain from awareness campaigns.

Ongoing Challenges

Awareness campaigns are crucial to reduce the stigma surrounding legal aid in India. While Indian lawyers are not supposed to accept compensation in legal aid cases, some nonetheless demand payment. This unfair practice engenders distrust toward providers of legal aid among those most in need of counsel. Inmates ought to have confidence in those representing them. Awareness campaigns and training sessions seek to dispel myths surrounding sarkari lawyers, who are assigned by the government to work on legal aid cases. Empowering inmates to report corrupt lawyers builds trust in legal aid and prevents instances of malpractice. IBJ India’s direct interaction with prisoners rebuilds lost trust and instills confidence that justice can be achieved. By fighting corruption in the legal profession, IBJ India is doing its part to advance both its own work and the work of advocates across the country.

IBJ India continues to innovate new ways to deliver on its mission to protect human rights, including through its Legal Rights Awareness and Legal Aid Camp. This sustainable model for awareness campaigns can be used at other jails across the country. Teaching prisoners to leverage their rights will allow them to improve their circumstances and receive humane treatment. IBJ India’s commitment to human rights through legal education and service truly makes a difference in the lives of those most in need.

Ajay Verma speaks with students about the importance of early access to counsel.

Early access to a lawyer is critical in ensuring that a person accused of a crime has her or his due process rights respected, for example with regards to bail applications. Bail is an essential part of criminal justice in ensuring that the accused is not detained and jailed for excessive periods of time while awaiting trial – a critical period of time when torture and other abuse is most likely to occur. IBJ has worked extensively in India to ensure each individual has early access to counsel. This project, led by IBJ Fellow Ajay Verma, is a significant component to furthering that mission.

“Psychological Aid for the Undertrials: A Community Outreach Project” was set up between IBJ and the Indraprastha College for Women in coordination with Delhi Prisons to provide comprehensive legal and psychological assistance to incarcerated women in one of the nine central prisons in the Delhi Prisons complex. Students and IBJ volunteers interviewed women about their experiences, both from a legal and psychological perspective. Much of their discussion centered around the women’s socio-economic background and history, as well as their many difficulties in securing reliable and effective counsel.

As one student described, “Our role was to identify persons to whom we could provide legal aid, and also to be able to talk to the inmates and encourage them.” Their interactions with the inmates revealed the profound interactions between the psychological aspects of incarceration with the need to access to legal counsel and trial. Often closely linked, the psychological and legal concerns create a distressing and challenging environment for each of the prisoners’ mental, physical and psychological health. IBJ’s role throughout the process was to provide legal assistance to inmates identified as being without legal counsel.

Students, IBJ staff and teachers at Indraprastha College brainstorm legal and psychosocial strategies for assisting undertrials

 The focus of the students on developing empathy for the women whom they were interviewing and the availability of legal support from IBJ were both essential in creating a structure through which, to offer the prisoners relief from some of their distress while incarcerated.

IBJ’s mission to ensure early access to counsel proved critical in many of the cases reported through this project. Many of the women who were interviewed expressed minimal or no support from their own private lawyer, in which case IBJ was able to step in and offer its legal counsel in these urgent situations. As one student noted, “She was in need of a lawyer and this case was forwarded to Ajay Verma.” Through the lens of these stories, the urgency of reliable and timely counsel was reinforced as fundamental to the alleviation of harmful conditions. Many of the concerns and painful circumstances the women reported stemmed from violations of legal procedure and the lack of a presence of a dedicated lawyer. With the assistance of IBJ, dozens of these women now have the opportunity to access justice and be fairly judged.

Many have been reunited with their families. Today in the prison, IBJ has developed a sense of hope among the jailed inmates that, if no one comes to help them, IBJ’s lawyers will be there to provide help.

BBJ Country Manager Jean Claude Barakamfitiye speaks about the sanctity of presumption of innocence

On March 22, the Burundi Bridges to Justice Team organized a justice roundtable bringing together 34 justice sector actors to identify problems and solutions to pressing justice issues in Burundi. This high-level meeting was held on the theme “Status of implementation of the legal safeguards of the accused.” The roundtable was a crucial step towards improving cooperation between government officials, judges, prosecutors, lawyers and police on implementing due process rights.

Organizing the event jointly with the Ministry of Justice’s Center for Professional Training of Justice (CFPJ – Centre de Formation Professionnelle de la Justice), IBJ developed the theme within the framework of the 2016-2020 Sectorial Policy of the Ministry of Justice. The goal of this policy is, among other things, to guarantee an effective and accessible criminal justice system.

The roundtable was a rare event bringing together lawyers, justice officials, police and civil society to jointly share problems, solutions and approaches on upholding due process rights

Of the 34 lawyers, government officials, judges and police officers who contributed to the roundtable, attendees included the Director and the Deputy-Director of the Professional Center for Justice, the officers of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Commissary General of the Judicial Police as well as Police Officers, lawyers, the judges, a representative of The National Independent Human Rights Commission (CNIDH) and the Representative of the Prison Administration.

The roundtable resulted in a renewed commitment from government officials in 4 areas:

• Setting up a framework for consultation and dialogue between justice actors to improve self-examination, accountability and transparency. The representatives from the Ministry of Justice committed to set up these frameworks without delay.
• Ensuring respect and proper implementation of the principle “Freedom is the rule, detention is the exception” which is codified in Article 52 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
• Guaranteeing that the timeline for legal procedures, particularly time limits of detention and appearance in court are respected without undue delay.
• Ordering investigation of allegations of torture anytime a judge encounters a defendant who has been tortured and nullifying confessions obtained under duress.

Lawyer Aline Njimbere shares her insights on overcoming barriers to rights violations and ensuring all accused persons have early access to legal counsel.

Ultimately, the roundtable was a valuable occasion to put forward important commitments on access to justice as a fundamental right for everyone. Discussions such as these, held regularly in a collegial environment are a way to institutionalize good collaboration and build a movement towards practical action between government officials, judges and lawyers.

With each individual group in the justice chain identifying challenges that prevent effective implementation of due process rights of the accused, the resulting commitments will ensure positive change occurs to better protect the rights of ordinary people. IBJ will continue to work with civil society and government institutions to transform those commitments into practical action.

Crispin Sangara (center) stands with two 13-year olds and their mothers outside the Children’s Court of Bukavu. Crispin, who is a volunteer lawyer with IBJ Congo working on juvenile justice, provided legal assistance that resulted in the young boys’ release. They were imprisoned for 2 months accused of stealing a bicycle.

The provision of free legal assistance is a central part of IBJ’s strategy to prevent torture and reduce human rights abuses in prisons. The need for such assistance in the DRC is especially urgent: there exists neither state-sponsored legal aid nor NGO-sponsored free legal aid to criminal defendants. This has resulted in a staggering pre-trial detention rate of 73%. In other words, almost 3 in 4 prisoners who are kept imprisoned are detained without trial.

As a consequence, individuals have no access to legal protection if they are arrested. They are kept in overcrowded, often dangerous conditions, and due to their imprisonment are unable to support their families. Today, IBJ is the only organization in DRC with the capacity to provide legal assistance to individuals who are too poor to otherwise afford a lawyer.

Apendeke Ngalula is 37 years old. She was falsely accused of abducting a child, despite neighbours witnessing Apendeke giving the child in question to her parents. Seeking IBJ for legal assistance, IBJ succeeded in getting her detention order lifted by the investigating magistrate, as the accusations against her were groundless.

The scale of the problem is great. In Bukavu Central Prison alone, over 1,000 individuals are held in pre-trial detention. As such, there is an urgent need for IBJ to scale up its operations and make free legal representation widely accessible. These efforts are crucial to strengthen rule of law and advance access to justice in the region.

Already IBJ’s hard work is bearing fruit: dozens of individuals have thanks to IBJ’s timely intervention been reunited with their families. Furthermore, authorities in the region have shown themselves open to engaging in constructive discussions about the state of criminal justice. The President of the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Bukavu, Luc Mushagalusa Basedeke, has stated that since IBJ started working in Bukavu, there has been a noticeable impact on the speed at which cases are being processed.

The IBJ Congo program is spearheaded by country coordinator Charles Mugaruka Mupenda. “It has been my dream and my passion to work in my country, my region, to make justice a reality,” says Charles, whose engagement with IBJ started through the JusticeMakers program in 2012.

Then 14 years old, Paulin was approached by a man selling boots. Buying a pair for 80 cents, Paulin was soon after approached by another man on the street who said those boots belonged to him. The man’s mother, who testified that the newly-bought boots were indeed her son’s, called police officers to arrest Paulin for burglary.

Despite being unaware that the goods he bought were stolen, Paulin continues to languish in prison. No lawyer assisted him at his trial, since he did not have the financial resources to pay for one.

He has today been in Bukavu Central Prison for 3 years and 6 months. Not only is the length of time he has been detained for grossly disproportionate to the petty crime he is accused of, it is also a time which spans his most formative years. Imprisoned from the age of 14 to 17, being denied access to justice has impacted his education, his links to the community, and his physical and psychological wellbeing.

Now, however, we have a chance to change Paulin’s life. International Bridges to Justice has since the beginning of August been providing Paulin with pro-bono legal assistance. However, for our volunteer lawyers to continue their work and get Paulin released from horrific prison conditions, we urgently need your help.

Sadly, Paulin is not the only victim of a justice system that does not work. Over 1,000 other people in Bukavu Central Prison are in the same situation, facing long delays and without lawyers to represent them. IBJ, from its office in Bukavu, is trying to ensure that as many women, men, and children as possible are protected from arbitrary detention and abuse.

Donate today on JustGiving to help Paulin. Your small contribution will help IBJ ensure that every woman, man and child is protected from arbitrary detention and abuse.

J. Salomé

On 21 July 2011, Samnang(1) was getting ready in his bathroom when he heard his phone ringing in the living room. He heard his wife pick up, get angry, and go outside where he heard her talking to one of his friends. Apparently his friend who had called his wife out of the house was not alone: the police were there as well. Samnang heard all of them leaving and rushed to the police station himself, where he was arrested as well. All were charged with drug trafficking. Samnang was kept one day in police custody before being transferred to the prison of Mondulkiri, where he was kept in pretrial detention.

Chheang Makara, the IBJ lawyer based in Mondulkiri, received the case immediately at the police stage. According to Cambodia’s Criminal Procedure Code, the person arrested has the right to talk to a lawyer after their period of 24 hours in police custody has expired(2). Initially, Samnang was charged under article 33 of the Law on Drug Control which punishes anyone involved in drug trafficking or consumption by 10 to 20 years of imprisonment and by a fine penalty from 10 to 50 million riels ($2,500 to $12,500).

Samnang explained to his lawyer that he was indeed involved in drug trafficking except that he was actually an undercover citizen working for the police who were trying to dismantle drug trafficking networks in the area. According to the law in Cambodia, the police may involve citizens to infiltrate drug trafficking networks and report them to the authorities. Though the police had convinced Samnang to play this role, he never obtained written evidence of this agreement, nor did he receive money from the police in exchange for his help.

After more than 8 months spent in pretrial detention, Samnang and his wife were tried on 9^th April 2012. The IBJ lawyer requested to change the charges brought against his client to the offense of hiding leads with the purpose of creating obstacles to finding facts, punishable by 1 to 3 years of imprisonment with a fine from 2 to 6 million riels ($500 to $1,500). He also underlined that initially the police had arrested 3 persons: Samnang, his wife, and his friend. While the latter had been released, Samnang remained in detention with the same allegations. Makara requested the police to investigate equally if the three persons were going to be charged with the same offense. He also underlined that his client had confessed to the commission of the acts from the investigative stage. Since the police did not believe him, they did not further investigate into his allegations. Makara recalled to the court the background of his client, coming from a poor family with a wife that had just miscarried and who was not in proper health condition to stay in prison. The lawyer used these circumstance to request a reduced sentence from the court. The IBJ lawyer’s defense strategy proved to be efficient: the court re-characterized the facts and sentenced Samnang and his wife to 1.5 years in prison and to a fine of 10 million riels ($2,500). Both had already spent more than 8 months in pretrial detention and were released in December 2012.

Samnang spent a year and a half in a 2×2 m cell, often with 8 or 9 other people. Though enough food was provided in prison, the taste was insipid. Samnang’s family came often to visit; however he was not able to meet his wife even if they were detained in the same prison. Men and women are kept separate and they had only the chance to glimpse at each other in the prison’s yard without being able to talk properly. Every day he was allowed to go outside of his cell for only 30 minutes to exercise with only 15 minutes to bathe. His personal and mental strengths were challenged during detention. Sickened by the unfairness of his situation he could not help releasing his anger in prison. One day he loudly hit the prison door in an access of indignation. He was harshly punished by the prison authorities who beat him and even used electric shocks on him. He was so depressed that he would have considered committing suicide if it had not been for the other prisoners who prevented him from doing so.

After he had been released, the Chief of the Anti-Drug Department contacted him again to reintegrate his role. Needless to say, he refused. Instead he took up his former occupation working in the forest to find bees to sell. He and his wife were happy to go back to their normal life even if they are still bearing the prison stigma in the eyes of their neighbors.

The IBJ lawyer helped him from the earliest stage of the proceedings, until the end of the trial. Samnang acknowledged that his lawyer did the best to help him, even if they could not get an acquittal. Once out of prison, Samnang made himself a voice in favor of free legal services for the accused. He wants to show people that it is possible to win a case without money.

J. Salomé

One night, a group of 8 people went out for a dinner at Serey and Vanny’s(1) outdoor family-run restaurant in Ratanakiri. After a large dinner and a couple of drinks, one of the men from the group asked Serey to come over and explained that they had forgotten their money. Serey agreed to let one of them go home to get some money to pay for everyone. Serey stayed around, talking with the other men from the group, when one of their phones started to ring. Surprised by the musical ringtone, Serey started to laugh and joke about the voice of the singer. The other men did not share his sense of humor and started to threaten him just because of the remark he made. Serey tried to apologize but one of the men stood up and became aggressive. Pech, Serey’s brother, ran up to stop the fight but was pushed to the ground by another member of the group. Stunned, he ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife to defend Serey and himself. As the fight went on, Pech hit one man’s right hand with the knife. Soon after, the whole group rushed to leave the restaurant before the situation worsened.

The following day, the police came to the restaurant to arrest Pech. He was subsequently  charged with attempted murder. Pech’s family was in disarray: the whole incident had been triggered by a simple joke and a gross overreaction. After, by chance, passing by the IBJ office in Ratanakiri and finding out about IBJ’s legal aid services, Pech’s family got in touch with the IBJ lawyer Mao Sary, who took he case on in late February, 2013.

During the trial, the complainant alleged that Vanny, Pech’s sister-in-law who also works at the restaurant, encouraged Pech to fight with a knife. As a result, the investigating judge decided to arrest Vanny and to change the charge from attempted murder to violence causing disability to the victim. Consequently, in May 2013, almost a year after the fight, the police came back to the restaurant and arrested Vanny to put her in pretrial detention. The rest of the family was dumbfounded.

Vanny’s trial was held on the 7th of  August 2013. By that time, Mao Sary had been building a strong defense. He pointed out the lack of evidence to charge and detain Vanny. Mao Sary brought before the court some of Vanny’s co-workers and relatives as eyewitnesses. In their testimonies, they recalled that while Vanny did shout at Pech, it was to try to stop the fight, not to encourage it. The IBJ lawyer insisted on the fact that the complainant and his friends, by not having money to pay for their bill, triggered the incident. He argued that Vanny and her family should not bear the consequences of the complainant’s propensity to fight. In addition, the complainant’s witness provided confusing information in his testimony. Due to the lack of evidence against Vanny, the judge decided to acquit her. Concurrently, Mao Sary obtained a reduced sentence for Pech: from a maximum of 15 years of imprisonment for attempted murder to 6.

Vanny was released on the day of the trial, having spent 3 months in pretrial detention. During those 3 months, she became very depressed and her health became weaker, all-the-while Mao Sary visited her in prison and did his best to reassure her. Due to her time in detention, her health remains in a delicate state.

Vanny finds some solace in the fact that she was able to receive legal aid from IBJ because she is well aware that she would have spent much more time in detention without the help of a lawyer. While Vanny did not know her legal rights before, she is now aware of her right to a lawyer and understands the advantages of having a legal professional to represent a case. She is now helping to spread the word about IBJ within her community and explains how free legal aid services helped her to regain her liberty. Since her release, she works hard to make her dreams of having a successful restaurant and contribute to her community come true.

Vuty went to a local legal NGO to get some help and was represented by a lawyer as the court requested him to prove that the certificate was a fake one. They have not been able to prove it and the court declared that the head of the district was the owner of the land. The latter offered Vuty and the other farmers to continue using the land to grow rice in exchange for a ton of rice every year. It was much more than their annual harvest and they had to refuse the deal. The head of district then ordered his guards to expel Vuty, his family and the other farmers from the land. On that night, the guards had some dinner and drinks. Apparently drunk, they accidentally started a fire that burned the barn. Fearing reprisals, they said it was Vuty and the farmers who came during the night to burn the barn to avenge. They were all accused of intentional damage (arson). According to its last experience with the Takeo court, Vuty did not trust that the Cambodian justice system was fair and he escaped before the police came to arrest him.

Vuty has been tried in abstentia and sentenced to 6 years imprisonment by Takeo court. He finally got caught in July 2012, 6 years after the occurrence of the facts, and was sent to Takeo prison. He did not know that he had the right to a lawyer or the right to appeal and neither the police, nor the prison officials, informed him about it. Fortunately, his relatives knew about IBJ and told him that he should ask for a lawyer. His wife contacted IBJ and Mr. Ouk Vandeth, IBJ Cambodia country director, came to meet him in August 2012. He agreed to represent Vuty and help him to appeal.

In Cambodia, there is only one Court of Appeal located in Phnom Penh, the capital, meaning that the court is overloaded and that appellants wait months before their trial, languishing in prison.

Finally, Vuty’s appeal hearing was scheduled on December 12, 2013, a year and a half after his arrest. 18 months in a prison where the food was insufficient and where he was sharing a cell with 44 other prisoners. It was Mr. Vibol, the IBJ lawyer in charge of appeal cases, who represented Vuty at the hearing. After investigation, he found three witnesses that agreed to testify during the hearing, explaining that Vuty could not be the perpetrator as he was with them when the offence was committed. As a result, the general prosecutor also requested the court to acquit Vuty because of the lack of evidence. Ten days later, the Court issued its verdict and Vuty was acquitted. Finally, on the last day of December 2013, Vuty was released and his wife came to bring him back home.  On their way back, they stopped at the IBJ office in Phnom Penh.

For Vuty, “there is no real justice system in Cambodia, at least not for the poor.  I am not blaming the police or the prison administration who are only implementing the judgments, but the judges of first instance. Without a lawyer I would have stayed in prison for 6 years.  I am really grateful to IBJ for the legal aid.”

Vuthy, IBJ lawyer Vibol and Vuthy’s wife

And his wife, with tears in her eyes, added that she really thanks the IBJ lawyer to give him back her husband, because they would never have been able to hire a private lawyer.

Vuty has 5 children who are old enough to work and able to support his wife when he was in prison. They still have two hectares of paddy fields in Takeo province where Vuty will be able to grow rice, as a free man.

By Charlène Buisson

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.