The second Defender Training Session held for Sri Lankan lawyers took place in the historical city of Kandy, home of The Temple of the Tooth Relic, and very much a focal point of Sri Lankan culture and history.

International Bridges to Justice Lanka partnered with the Kandy Bar Association to host the event for 106 defense lawyers, who brought with them to the training a varied range of experience. The training was officially opened with the lighting of a traditional ceremonial oil lamp, followed by speeches from IBJ’s International Program Director, Sanjeewa Liyanage, President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), Mr. Kalinga Indatissa, and the President of the Kandy Bar Association, Mrs. E.M.P. Kumari Abeyratne.

Speaking of the ethical principles and values that is expected of every member of the BASL, Mr Indatissa addressed the younger generation of lawyers in the room, telling them;

‘You have a huge responsibility, because as todays juniors, you are the seniors of tomorrow’. He reminded them of the values of being a defense lawyer, including the necessity to uphold their duties towards their clients, to respect the courts, and to show professionalism towards their colleagues.

Mr Indatissa then continued to present the first module of the training to the participants on the role of a defense lawyer, highlighting their rights, duties, and responsibilities. Joining Mr Indatissa on the training team were international trainers, Michael Karnavas, Jacques du Preez, Sanjeewa Liyanage, and Suresh Damodara, along with local trainer Saliya Pieris. The trainers between them brought together a vast amount of experience, from Saliya Pieris PC who has spent more than 25 years practicing in Sri Lankan courts, to Suresh Damodara, Michael Karnavas, and Jacques du Preez, all with experience representing clients in International Criminal Tribunals.

Training topics covered a broad spectrum, from effective client interview skills to cross examination, and included an international element brought in by Singaporean lawyer Suresh Damodara who provided a comparison to the challenges faced by defense lawyers in Singapore. In addition, IBJ’s International Program Director presented a number of modules on past, current, and future trends in the Sri Lankan justice system and encouraged lawyers to envision their ideal justice system and the steps needed to make this a reality.            

Participants were given copies of IBJ Lanka’s newly published Criminal Defense Practice Manual which was referred to throughout the training. The Manual has been endorsed by five Bar Associations throughout Sri Lanka; Trincomalee, Jaffna, Mannar, Kandy, and Vavuniya, and will be distributed throughout the country as a resource for lawyers.

Kelly McCarthy

IBJ China Seeks to Improve Defense Strategies for Accused Women & Girls

IBJ China Training Brochure

Domestic violence is, unfortunately, not a new or uncommon problem in China, but the issue has gained unprecedented social attention over the past few years. In June 2014, China’s Supreme Court issued a landmark decision, overturning the death sentence of a woman convicted of killing her husband after suffering years of physical, sexual, and verbal abuse. That same month, IBJ China hosted a training symposium in Fujian Provence, focusing on improving defense strategies for accused girls and women who are also victims of abuse. Additionally, the training promoted a better understanding of the opportunities for women in the criminal justice system. Those who participated in the training at the IBJ’s Xiamen FAIR  responded to the lecture series and discussion topics with keen interest. Nearly all the 70 attending justice professionals reported that the training was closely related to their work, and all surveyed respondents said they would implement the information and skills learned during the training into their practice.

In a follow-up of this recent training, the majority of participants reported a lasting change in the way they think about and approach cases involving domestic violence. Several reported having developed a much stronger interest in understanding the underlying reasons for the defendant’s behavior, and in building an analysis and defense from these reasons. Changes like this in the approach to domestic violence cases are a welcome and positive indicator of future change in the Chinese criminal justice system.

It is of utmost importance that Chinese criminal defense professionals continue to gain exposure to gendered advocacy strategies in order to improve the treatment of female accused. Increasing awareness about women’s rights and confronting gender discrimination against females within all parts of the justice sector are of paramount concern in Chinese society today.

This training symposium is a part of the FAIR (Female Accused Improved Representation) project initiative.

Jasmine Wang

From June to October 2013, IBJ China held its pilot Series of Training (SoT) in Beijing under its Defender Empowerment Series (DES) project. The SoT is a program of eight training sessions spread over four months aimed specifically at young lawyers just beginning a career in criminal defense. Potential applicants were expected to have passed the bar exam, to have worked less than three years in criminal justice, and a commitment to taking legal aid cases. Applications were submitted from across China and eventually 40 promising lawyers were selected to participate; many had to travel by air or overnight train just to attend the trainings.

 A major draw for the participating lawyers was the opportunity to learn from the DES Trainers, all of whom were invited for their specific expertise. These DES Trainers themselves had participated in a weeklong IBJ training focused on fostering highly interactive, case-based teaching methods. In addition, their experience in the field of criminal justice allowed them to provide participants with extremely practical and immediately useful skills.

Lawyer Meng was an SoT participant who described how fortunate he felt for joining the program when he was still in the middle of his apprenticeship, “[As an apprentice]… I had an enormous caseload and there was a risk for the work to become mindless. Copying case reports word for word into my own notes, meeting clients and taking notes verbatim—I could easily lose focus of my work. Suddenly, after beginning the SoT, I was excited to put new skills I had learned directly into practice. It substantively helped to improve the way I take cases now.”

For Meng, the most useful skills he acquired were the ones directly related to his daily tasks—no detail was too small. As there is no standardized style guide yet in China, he specifically expressed gratitude to Trainer Zhang who taught him the exact font, text size, spacing between paragraphs and effective wording to use when compiling a defense submission for the court.

Meng states, “I learned to create a note-taking system for interviewing clients that ensured I would ask for the key points necessary to build my case and to establish trust with my clients. For evidence, I now use the Diagram Analysis Method that Trainer Zhang taught me that has added enormous credibility to my submissions.”

Recently, in a case where the client was arrested for fraud, Meng made use the Diagram Analysis Method and tabulated each piece of evidence while providing an objective summary of its relationship to the case and its monetary value. This thorough analysis of evidence and the defense’s valuation of the accused’s crime was quickly accepted by the prosecution. According to Meng, “…the prosecution could tell that our work was of high-quality and it helped build their trust in us. Because of this, they supported our argument that the client had surrendered—a mitigating factor for the sentencing—and submitted a more lenient opinion to the court.”

In the year since attending SoT, Meng finished is apprenticeship and his career has made great strides. Along with his associate Lawyer Ma—also an SoT participant—in July 2014 Meng launched a pro bono clinic, “Criminal Legal Aid for the Weak,” serving vulnerable populations in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province. Meng states, “After watching my teachers give so much to me and helping me achieve a level of confidence in my work, I really wanted to use these skills and give back to the community around me.”

Beyond providing a highly interactive training, SoT focused itself on fostering community and a sense of solidarity between colleagues in the work of criminal justice. This past weekend, sixteen SoT lawyers reunited for a salon organized by IBJ and reflected upon the effectiveness of the trainings and how their own careers have progressed since then. SoT Trainer Yi remarked to his students, “As individual lawyers, we cannot do so much or accomplish what we want from our careers. It’s only as a community of collaborators that we can really tap our potential as criminal justice lawyers.”

With the feedback and response from the Beijing pilot, IBJ plans to expand SoT in 2015 to four new locations throughout China.

This is a special occasion for IBJ-Cambodia. On September 5^th, we commemorated our 170^th edition of Community Legal Education programs in the provinces in the country!

The events started in 2009 as a way to inform citizens of their basic rights. By raising awareness on their rights, we aim at encouraging them to demand their rights be respected if they are ever arrested or accused. Campaigns are conducted by the Defender Resource Centers (DRCs) in the provinces. The targeted venue and audience are preferably far from the city center, where access to justice is extremely limited.

The 170^th edition was held in Takeo (DRC-1) at the Commune Hall of Baray Village. On the way to the venue from the city center, it is possible to admire the natural beauty of the surroundings. Takeo was the capital of Chenla Kingdom, and is also known as the “cradle of Khmer civilization”.

The 42 people, including local police officers and authorities, took part in the presentation led by Mr. Ly Kosal, the Provincial Lawyer.

Throughout the morning, people discussed several foundational concepts in criminal justice and human rights, such as the role of a lawyer, the criminal code and right to early access to counsel. Mr. Ly Kosal mentioned examples of case studies that were related to the reality in the village. They discussed self-defense, marriage certificate – a huge issue in Cambodia – as well as land disputes, mentioning specific problems due to the lack of validity of land certificates issued before 1979, in the Khmer Rouge regime, also known as the Year Zero for the country.

Mr. Chan Vanny, the Provincial Investigator, assisted the presentation by providing clarifying examples and by handing and explaining a poster that informs them on their basic rights, such as the condemnation of torture, the right to have a lawyer, and right to see a lawyer.

In the end of the session, the commune chief expressed his gratitude to host such an important event in their village. “It is extremely important that we know our rights to have a lawyer and we thank IBJ for that”, he said in conclusion.

IBJ Cambodia hopes to keep reaching more and more citizens throughout the whole country!

IBJ Cambodia lawyers and investigators

On Friday, 7^th of June 2013, all twenty-two of the IBJ lawyers and investigators in Cambodia gathered in Phnom Penh for a training session organized by IBJ Cambodia and led by Denise Crawford and Larisa Dinsmoor, two public defenders from Orange County, California. After introductions and ice breakers, the two American lawyers presented a case study to the group. The hypothetical case involved a poor farmer accused of battery and the starting point for the discussion was Article 321 of the Cambodian code of criminal procedure: “Unless otherwise required by law, any evidence in criminal cases is freely admissible.”

Larisa Wakefield

After a brief discussion about the case, the two women used it to further talk about advocacy skills and shared their experience gathering evidence in support of their clients, including telephone conversations and expert testimony. All the lawyers then broke up into groups to discuss various difficulties, especially interviewing the witnesses to crimes. The most common topics were witness misidentification, bias, and translation problems. Then the IBJ lawyers shared their main difficulties, how they have to travel far to interview the families of their clients and dig deep to uncover their clients’ records. Before breaking for lunch, Denise led a brief discussion about client confidentiality.

After lunch, the two seasoned American lawyers gave the IBJ lawyers some interviewing tips. The afternoon was spent discussing various affirmative defenses, mitigating circumstances, and past successes and failure. The American lawyers seemed to get as much out of the exchange as their Cambodian counterparts.  Finally, the two women returned to the case study from the morning, added a few more details, and asked each IBJ lawyer how he/she would strategize representing the client.

Denise Crawford

In all, the day was a great success. The IBJ lawyers, some of them new on the job, picked up strategies from the two public defenders that will help them better represent their clients.  They raised important questions and were very active throughout the training. IBJ Cambodia lawyers and investigators were glad to learn this practical approach and to improve their skills, but they do regret that the training was not longer than one day. Moreover, everyone benefited from the cultural exchange among professionals.

Larisa Dinsmoor, Denise Crawford, Vandeth Ouk (IBJ Cambodia Country Director)

The formal sessions started with Mr. R. K. Saxena, Former Inspector General, Rajasthan Prisons and Honorary Consultant with CHRI, who dealt with Administrative Reasons for Non-Appearance before the Courts. Various examples were cited wherein the police officials fail to bring the accused out of judicial custody for a hearing and then ask for remand or they give an excuse of non-availability of escorts. All these instances are clear violation of the concept of Fair Trial, as the same requires the accused to be aware of every aspect of his/her case. Further, he also explained the reasons as per law, which affords the liberty of absence of accused from the court. These reasons are illness of the accused which has to be accompanied with a medical certificate, if the release time is shorter than time taken to travel from jail to court, and lastly if a special permission has been obtained by the government. There was a specific mention of right to protected conversation, which is basically a right provided to the lawyer to meet the prisoner alone.

Second session of the day was led by Mr. Ajay Verma, and he spoke about the concept, ‘Liberty is Paramount’. Here, Mr. Verma not only spoke about the importance of communication between the accused and the lawyer, but also questioned the need for custodial interrogation when the accused and the lawyer are co-operative in every step of the way. This session was followed by another one, which dealt with Remand and First Appearance, and was jointly headed by Mr. Anshuman Saxena, Advocate in Rajasthan High Court and Mr. Ajay Verma. Initially the focus was on provisions under Code of Criminal Procedure and Article 22 of the Constitution, subsequently, few cases dealing with these aspects were discussed. Mr. Saxena, made the session interesting and interactive by throwing out offences to the participants and asking them the period of detention that is permissible by law. Mr. Verma spoke about Hussainaira Khatoon v. State of Bihar, and the principles that have been expounded by the Supreme Court.

The day came to an end with a session on Bail not Jail, a concept explained in Moti Ram v. State of  Madhya Pradesh, by Ms. Sugandha, Project Officer with CHRI. This session was largely interactive in nature, as the focus was on role playing. Here, few case studies were distributed and young lawyers were given an opportunity to argue the case on bail provisions in front of the judges, Mr. Anshuman Saxena and Mr. Verma. This session was concluded with round of questions, and the participants were requested to provide their feedback. The workshop was an effort to provide lawyers with all the knowledge and techniques, so they are able to provide effective representation to the accused, and to sensitize them towards the problems that are faced by the accused on a regular basis.

A total of 50 warders and head warders from District Jail Alwar, Rajasthan participated. A retired IG, from Rajasthan Prison Shri R.K. Saxena stressed that all those who are in jail are also human and deserve the humane treatment. Though the warders are at the lowest rank in jail administration but they have maximum contact with the accuseds and prisoners hence they have maximum responsibility for reformation and conflict management between them and the inmates. He stressed  that prisoners are human beings, not case files. The court has punished them once; and they are not supposed to be punished daily. It’s in the hands of Prison Staff to inspire the inmates and spark a change in their lives.

An Exercise about “Your perspective of Prison” was done by circulating a  comprehensive list of various elements associated with the concept of a jail like walls, bars, grills, handcuffs, beating, torture, monotonous food, restrictions on access to family and friends, ban of use of mobiles and various restrictions imposed on Inmates was conducted with a view to know what they visualize about the same.

Mr. T.S. Madaan, a motivational Speaker focused on complete personality development of warders and stress management. He generated enthusiasm in the participants and made an attempt to de stress their minds. He emphasized that one should control their emotions such as anger, fear, anxiety, happiness, stress before they control oneself. According to  him “We all have the controls with us.  He said that lion is a dangerous animal, he eats other animals. But still we don’t hate him as it is his nature.  Mr. Madaan touched upon the use of effective communication skills and emphasized that listening is more important than speaking. It is important to come down to others’ level to understand them and only then we can bring them to our level. We have to put ourselves in other’s shoes to overcome the communication barriers. The idea of this session was to make the staff understand the improtance of effective communication with inmates.

Mr. Ajay Verma, Advocate and Fellow of International Bridges to Justice along with Mr. Anshumaan Saxena, An advocate from Jaipur in the last session of the day discussed the basic legal provisions of bail and parole with the warders. Mr. Ajay said that about 65% of prison population in India is under trials and most of them do not know their rights and duties. It is the duty of the warders and Head warders as guardian to inform accused about their right to bail and parole. Mr. Anshuman told the participants about Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Indian Evidence Act in brief. The participants were requested to study basic and common provisions of Criminal procedure and Penal Code  so that they have knowledge about bailable and non-bailable offences. Which will help them to inform the accused about their right to Apply for bail. Often it is seen that the accuseds do not know their right to get Bail in case the Investigating Agency fails to file Charge-Sheet (Final Investigation Report).

The Second day  began with felicitation of Mr. Omendra Bhardwaj, Director General, Rajasthan Prisons, who was the guest of honor. Mr. Omendra Bhardwaj, in his opening address said that the complex jail organization is not run by DG or Superintendents or jailors, but it is run by warders and head warders. He emphasized that the responsibility of reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners ultimately lies on the shoulders of warders who can bring them dignity and happiness. The purpose of jails is to reform a person so that he is a better human being when he goes back to society. It is duty of courts to punish the offenders, but jail staff is not supposed to punish them daily. He suggested them to empathies with the inmates and never to crush their self-respect. The
attitude, communication skills and body language of jail staff matters a lot while dealing with the most ignored and vulnerable section of society. Prisoners have a right to reform.

 The next session conducted by Mr. Ajay Verma, Advocate and Fellow of International Bridges to Justice and Ms. Sugandha, Advocate and Consultant of CHRI who enlightened the participants about various issues in a jail in a very innovative way. With the help of a video clip, they told the jail staff best ways to help people lodged in jails who are without lawyers, what to do if the family doesn’t know that they are in prison, how to deal with the most vulnerable like mentally ill prisoners, juveniles etc. It was  an activity based session where all the warders were divided in the groups of five. then they were instructed to discuss the changes they want to see in their prison and best possible practices they want to follow. After that each group presented their findings in a creative manner in form of writings or drawings. The various suggestions that came were to keep the prisoners occupied, to listen to the inmates who are depressed, informing their families. The warders thought that they should take initiative to increase the reliability between convicts and jail staff and work as their legal parents. Some also suggested the ways to keep the premises green and environmental friendly.

The workshop was ended with the panel discussion chaired by Mr. Bhardwaj, Director General Rajasthan Prisons, Mr. Rakesh Mohan, Jail Superintendent, Alwar Prison and Mr. R. K. Saxena, Former I.G. Rajasthan Prisons. This exercise was an attempt to remove communication barrier between the Prison Staff and The Senior Officer of Prison Authority.

Opening speech by the Batonnier de l’Ordre des Avocats du Burundi (the Burundi Bar Association)

Drawing 45 Burundian lawyers, IBJ’s four-day training event in Bujumbura, Burundi, opened on July 12th with a speech by the Batonnier de l’Ordre des Avocats du Burundi, or the Burundia Bar Association.

Lawyers in Bujumbura, Burundi learn about building the theme and theory of a case

The first part of the training began with lawyers learning to build a theme and theory of a case and the importance it can play when preparing a case. IBJ’s Training Director, Kellie Krake, provided training on direct and cross-examinations of witnesses. Skills workshops allowed participants to practice what was being taught through a mock crime scene that could only be reconstructed through formulating and asking questions to witnesses.

Participants in the training construct a mock crime scene

Moreover, a refresher on various defenses under the Burundian Penal Code, including nullities and implementation, constituted a prelude to develop participant’s creativity into using broader local law resources and international conventions in preparation of strong defenses or in invoking nullities of procedure. IBJ’s Burundian Legal Fellow, Astère Muyango, spoke of the importance of putting in place a competent legal aid system.

The last two days of the training included other participants coming from across the spectrum of Burundi’s criminal justice system. These included magistrates, judicial police officers, and prison officials. A special guest speaker discussed the criminal proceedings involving juveniles. Presentations included international standards and Aline Njimbere, an IBJ Legal Fellow, explored with participants the changes to the Criminal Procedure Code. Mock demonstrations were conducted for participants to identify and discuss irregularities in procedures.

Judicial police officers and legal aid lawyers receiving training side-by-side

An overarching goal of this training was to strengthen understanding and dialogue amongst the different actors working in the system to build a sense of community with a common purpose, to improve Burundi’s justice system. Participants were encouraged to share their personal stories and values, to imagine the ideal of fairness in the justice system and to identify ways to work towards those ideals, and to pinpoint other issues they are face together as stakeholders in Burundi’s justice system. The training proved to be a great success. Whether it was a new way of thinking, preparing a better defense, or improving their technical skills, almost all participants thanked IBJ for contributing to their professional development.

The Batonnier ended the training with a final inspirational speech and the awarding of certificates to the participants. With all these actors moving together to apply the skills learned and values shared in the training, Burundi is one step closer to realizing the kind of fair and equitable justice system that had been envisioned in the training.

All images courtesy Krzysztof Racoń and Michal Wojtysiak, copyright 2011.

Kellie Krake and John Tawanda Burombo share legal skills at IBJ's training workshop in Kigali, Rwanda

It was quite hot in Kigali on July 20^th 2011. Despite the heat, 30 defense lawyers gathered at IBJ’s Rwanda office for a skills building training workshop to strengthen their ability to advocate for the rights of their clients. Kellie Krake, IBJ’s Training Director and an American lawyer with years of criminal defense experience, and John Busco Bugingo, the head of IBJ Rwanda, were at the helm of this intense training workshop.

Participants were very eager to share their values, stories, and to learn. Ideas and answers to questions came from all sides. The workshop focused on cross-examination techniques where lawyers analyzed a fact scenario to identify what to ask clients to get the most information out of them. Lawyers were also trained on how to build the theme and theory of the case. A presentation on early access to counsel and international standards followed. After the morning session, participants received a certificate of attendance identifying the skills they had just learned.

Rwandan attorneys take note of the criminal defense practice tips IBJ delivers

The second half of the daywas dedicated to training the trainers. The purpose of a Train the Trainers program is to get more experienced lawyers to be able to pass their skills onto others. Participants learned how to conduct a good and competent training session, and learned how to focus their efforts. They were also provided with materials to facilitate this task. Under IBJ’s current program, over 180 Rwandan lawyers have been trained in the last three years. In order to capitalize on this success, IBJ is now deploying the more skilled criminal defense lawyers to train others and thus multiply their impact.

IBJ Skills Training Workshop

The workshop was also a valuable networking opportunity for participants, who were given the opportunity to get involved as IBJ volunteer lawyers.

All images courtesy Krzysztof Racoń and Michal Wojtysiak, copyright 2011.

The day’s session began with the inauguration of the workshop by Hon’ble Mr. Justice R.S.Chauhan (Judge, Rajasthan High Court).

He emphasized that lawyers should be armed with the knowledge of forensics and medical science as well when dealing with criminal cases. A good criminal lawyer is a good psychologist he said. “You will have to cross examine every type of witness differently” said Justice Chauhan. He stressed that advocates should understand people before they understand the laws. According to him golden rule of effective cross-examination is that every lawyer must study the charge sheet, FIR, statement of witnesses very carefully as lawyers have to contradict the witnesses when they give their statements. The site of crime should be visited, post mortem report should be studied, and the site plan must be compared with facts stated. He emphasised that books on medical jurisprudence should be studied very utmost care. He pointed out that at the time of cross examination, there is hardly any Narcotic Test or Brain Mapping on the spot; in such a scenario, body language of a person and his gestures such as eye movement can be very crucial.

Next Session was taken by Mr. Ravi Yadav a leading criminal defence lawyer in Jaipur practising at the Rajasthan High Court who about The Common Rules and Tips on examination and cross examination of witnesses. He highlighted the golden rule to be observed at all times that a good lawyer never looses his temper in court even if the case is going against him. Patience always pays. He mentioned that “whenever you read a charge sheet, a picture should start running in your mind. In cross-examination, the ‘charge’ should be the priority. Keep in mind that you have to demolish the charge, and ask questions accordingly.”

Mr. Ravi Yadav, a Leading Criminal Defence Lawyer from Jaipur Rajasthan focusing on The Common Rules and Tips on examination and cross examination of witnesses.

Third Session session focussed on the importance of examination of  Expert witnesses (Specially Medical Experts). Dr. Sumanta Dutta , Asst. Prof., Forensic Medicine Department) from SMS Medical College, Jaipur gave a detailed presentation on the importance of examination of expert witness and how knowledge of medical science can benefit the advocates in cross-examination of medical experts in a trial. Dr. Dutta prepared a presentation on Human Anatomy and according to him every lawyer should know that thoroughly. He explained the most delicate parts of the body and how failure of some organs can cause sudden death. He stressed that a defence lawyer must be aware of all these things and should utilize the information that scientific medicine can furnish.

Dr. Sumanta Dutta , Asst. Prof., Department of Forensic Medicine SMS Medical College, Jaipur (Extreme RIght) Explaining Human Anatomy

The last session was a mock demonstration of cross-examination of witnesses by Ajay Verma, Advocate, Fellow, International Bridges to Justice. A scenario was prepared and explained to the students. It was murder cases where the few Participants were asked to play different characters and the other Participants were then asked to cross examine them. The idea was to have each participant an experience of art of cross examination by participating in the simulation exercise. The participants seemed very enthusiastic about this exercise and realised cross examination is not such an easy nut to crack.

Mr. Ajay Verma showing Demonstration of Mock Cross Examination with the Assistance of a Volunteer Participant

A Participant experience a Mock Cross Examination of Witness

Participants

One of the participants was very excited and shared in the feedback that that this was his first workshop of this type by which he gained valuable knowledge and it will be definitely help him in effective defense if accused.