20 February 2019
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"It is... a matter of utmost concern that harassment, threats and attacks against lawyers continue to occur in many Council of Europe member States and are even increasing in some of them, where they have become widespread and systematic and are apparently the result of deliberate policy. These include, amongst other things: killings, which are sometimes inadequately investigated by the authorities; physical violence, including by public officials; threats, unjustified public criticism and identification of lawyers with their clients, including by leading politicians; abuse of criminal proceedings to punish lawyers or remove them from certain cases; violation of legal professional privilege through unlawful monitoring of clients’ consultations with their lawyers; search and seizure in the course of unlawful investigations; interrogation of lawyers as witnesses in their clients’ criminal cases; abuse of disciplinary proceedings; and various structural and procedural failures to establish and implement effective guarantees of lawyers’ independence."
Council of Europe: The case for drafting a European convention on the profession of lawyer (pdf)
See: Threats to the legal profession (CCBE, pdf)
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