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Qatar: the round of hearings on pre-trial detention for Kaili, Tarabella and Panzeri suspended

2023-02-16T13:29:47.785Z


(HANDLE) BRUSSELS - The new round of hearings for suspects in the "Qatargate" investigation that began in the morning has been suspended at the Palais de Justice in Brussels. The Belgian justice had to decide whether to validate the prison for the MEP Marc Tarabella , who ended up under arrest last Saturday after being questioned by the investigators and by the investigating judge Michael Claise following


BRUSSELS - The new round of hearings for suspects in the "Qatargate" investigation that began in the morning has been suspended at the Palais de Justice in Brussels.

The Belgian justice had to decide whether to validate the prison for the MEP

Marc Tarabella

, who ended up under arrest last Saturday after being questioned by the investigators and by the investigating judge Michael Claise following the revelations of the mastermind of the corruption scandal,

Antonio Panzeri

, who dragged into the investigation together with his colleague

Andrea Cozzolino

, now under house arrest in Naples.

Also appearing before the Council Chamber was the former vice president of the European Parliament,

Eva Kaili

, who has been imprisoned since last December 9 in Haren prison.

The two defenders reiterated the request for house arrest for Kaili, which has always been denied so far.

The judges should also have re-examined the possibility of a pre-trial detention regime for Panzeri,

who has negotiated a one-year prison sentence with the Belgian justice system

.

Despite the signing of the agreement as a pentito, Belgian criminal law provides for a periodic review of the precautionary measures also against him.

Panzeri's lawyer, Laurent Kennes, will not make any demands on him for an electronic surveillance regime.

The hearings scheduled for today in the Council Chamber of the Brussels court for the three were suspended pending the replacement of the investigating judge Michael Claise, after the request for recusal made this morning by Tarabella's lawyers.

This was reported by Kaili's defender, Sven Mary.

"Claise cannot be present today because there is a request for recusal and - explained the lawyer - it means that the judge can no longer perform his function until the Court of Appeal expresses his opinion on the request or he himself he will decide to leave the case".

"Based on the elements" indicated in the recusal request,

it will be Claise himself "who will have to decide whether to remain an investigating judge in this case or not"

, explained the criminal lawyer.

"If he decides to stay, the question is very simple: I assume that" Tarabella's lawyer "will appeal and the Court of Appeal will have to decide within eight days whether to keep him" in his duties or not.

Tarabella's lawyers filed a motion to challenge the investigating judge

Michael Claise

"on legitimate suspicion" on the failure to respect the presumption of innocence.

Attorney Maxim Toeller stated that "according to the judicial code, 'any judge can be challenged if there is a legitimate suspicion', and there are legitimate suspicions: on several occasions we have been able to ask ourselves about the respect of the presumption of innocence".

The lawyer highlighted that Claise's sentences indicated in the arrest warrant - which states that "the public positions" of Tarabella "were initially against Qatar, and were then overturned when the suspicious movement of funds was detected" which triggered the bribery scandal -

"they clearly violate the presumption of innocence"

.

"With this categorical declaration, the judge

clearly lets his opinion on Mr. Tarabella's guilt be understood

in this file" and "in other words, he evidently seems to take for granted the disputed facts and on which the investigation he is directing is concerned", continues the criminal lawyer, underlining how "the file does not reveal any movement of suspicious funds against Marc Tarabella" and how "at this stage no financial analysis has been carried out by the investigating judge, which is disturbing to say the least".

The lawyer then retraced the evolution of the Belgian politician's positions regarding Qatar, specifying that it is "a strategy shared with many NGOs that defend human rights" and that Tarabella also explained them to the investigators.

The socialist MEP "continues to claim his innocence from day one and says he has never received money or gifts in exchange for his opinions".

Judge Claise, added the lawyer, "in any case, cannot, at this stage, nourish and share such a prejudice on the guilt" of Tarabella,

since "his role must be to maintain absolute impartiality

, keeping the balance of justice equal between all parties, for the one and only purpose of seeking the truth, and obviously this is no longer the case, because there are strong suspicions of partiality on the part of the investigating judge that make him unfit to fulfill his mission" If the proceedings "are not successful", the lawyer has made it known that he will continue to

"defend Tarabella's rights in the appropriate ways and places"

.

Eva Kaili's lawyer, Sven Mary, said that

the conditions of the former vice-president of the European Parliament "are difficult"

.

"Your place is not Haren prison, you have to stay at home with your 24-month-old daughter," he added, speaking to the press on the sidelines of the hearing on the re-examination of pre-trial detention.

"We will ask for her release or for an electronic surveillance regime to be set up for her," he stressed.

Source: ansa

All news articles on 2023-02-16

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