Former lawyer to Taghi denies accusations that he passed on messages from prison

The former attorney for the leading suspect in the Marengo trial, Ridouan Taghi, “strongly” denied accusations that he broke any laws, "let alone participating in a criminal organization and/or publishing messages with criminal implication,” the lawyer of Vito Shukrula said on his behalf on Friday.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that the accusations must have arisen from serious misunderstandings that arose on the part of the AIVD, investigation, and prosecution,” the lawyer Nico Meijering said in a written statement. “Although my client is very concerned about the damage already done to him and his environment, he is combative and has every confidence that his name will be completely cleared."

According to Meijering, Shukrula "has made it known from the outset that he can and wants to remove the misunderstandings that have arisen."

The criminal investigation into the former lawyer began last December with information provided by the intelligence service, the AIVD, according to the Public Prosecution Service (OM). "In an official message to the OM, the intelligence and security service reported that the lawyer was passing on messages from his client to people within Taghi’s criminal network,” the prosecution service stated.

Shukrula is currently in pre-trial detention. He is the third lawyer to be arrested after defending Taghi. Youssef T., Taghi’s cousin and lawyer, was convicted of passing on messages from prison in early 2023.

Taghi’s second attorney, Inez Weski, is also accused of this. The criminal trial into these accusations is still ongoing. Taghi previously stated through his lawyer that he had not passed on any messages from the EBI prison via Shukrula.