Dutch authorities illegally held fmr. Taghi lawyer Inez Weski in secret location
The Dutch authorities held top defense lawyer Inez Weski in a secret location for nine days against the rules, the Justice and Security Inspectorate concluded after investigating Weski’s claims to that effect. For nine days after her arrest in April 2023, the Inspectorate and other supervisors did not know where Weski was being held, NOS reports.
Detention in an undisclosed location is contrary to Dutch law and the UN Convention against Enforced Disappearances. Weski wrote about being held in an underground bunker in the book she published last year about her detention. She said she was in an isolated cell “in complete silence, almost airtight, in a small building underground.” She thought the authorities wanted to “neutralise her.”
The Inspectorate did not specify where she was detained, but did say that she was placed in an unknown location “partly outside the protection of the law.” Weski wasn’t told to which prison director she could address complaints, and there were no house rules in force, for example. According to the Inspectorate, the authorities did pay attention to Weski’s well-being and safety.
According to the Inspectorate, these types of measures are sometimes necessary to ensure the safety of prison staff and detainees. “However, these measures may not be so far-reaching that there is secret detention.”
Weski was arrested in April 2023 on suspicion of participating in Ridouan Taghi’s criminal organization. According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), the now-former lawyer passed on thousands of messages between Taghi and his contacts, enabling him to continue running his criminal empire from the high-security prison in Vught.
After nine days in the secret location, Weski was transferred to the women’s prison in Nieuwersluis, where she stayed alone in a ward. She spent about a month and a half in pre-trial detention. Her case is ongoing.
Weski’s lawyers Geert-Jan and Carry Knoops declined to comment on the Inspectorate’s findings. They will likely respond at the next preliminary hearing against Weski on Thursday.
