© Photo by EYEPRESS via Reuters
As previously reported, the Clooney Foundation for Justice’s TrialWatch initiative is monitoring the libel trial of Aleksey Navalny in Russia. TrialWatch also plans to monitor any further proceedings against him.
We are delighted to announce that Judge Françoise Tulkens has been designated as the TrialWatch Expert who will assess the fairness of these trials and assign grades to them in line with international standards. Judge Tulkens is a leading expert on criminal and human rights law who previously served as Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights. She has also been a member of the United Nations Human Rights Advisory Panel for Kosovo and is a member of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom convened by Lord Neuberger, former President of the UK Supreme Court.
Judge Tulkens said: “In a democratic society, it is our collective responsibility to ensure that criminal trials for the most vulnerable defendants — minorities, women and girls, journalists, dissenters, and others — are in full compliance with fair-trial requirements and fundamental human rights. It is, therefore, a privilege to contribute, to the best of my ability, to the mission of TrialWatch for the sake of justice.”