American lawyer, Bruce Fein representing the supreme leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in the United States has threatened to file a petition before the International Criminal Court over an alleged violation of his client’s rights.
Fein who was denied access to the courtroom after turning up on Wednesday November 10 to monitor the trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), disclosed that this is the fifth time he’s being subjected to such.
The American lawyer stated that this is in violation to court order which allowed Nnamdi Kanu access to three persons. He also revealed that he will be going United States Congress and urging that sanctions be considered against Nigeria for gross violations of fundamental human rights.
Fein said; “Today was the fifth time I was told I could not enter the courtroom despite the court’s previous order that Nnamdi could have access to any three persons he wants to.
“I had the chance to talk briefly to him on my way to the courtroom. It is clear that I am the target in particular. That’s the reason why this proceeding did not transpire today.
“And I’m here to tell Nigerians and the international community that I’m taking this to international tribunals. It is clear that the Nigerian tribunals are compromised.
“I will petition the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Geneva, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, the ICC in the Hague and I’ll be going to the United States Congress and urging that sanctions be considered against Nigeria for gross violations of fundamental human rights”.
“I’m here not to be an irritant but there are huge international law issues that are present in Nnamdi Kanu’s case. I’m here because I’m an international expert to provide more enlightenment on what legal issues are present here.”
Nnamdi Kanu’s lead counsel here in Nigeria, Ifeanyi Ejiofor has also debunked claim of he and his team staging a walkout in court. Ejiofor stated that the legal team did not walk out of the court, but were locked out.
He said; “What happened in the court today is the height of travesty of justice. We have more than 50 lawyers who are here in solidarity so we were outside trying to resolve it.
“When we came to the court, they still insisted that they could not allow the maximum of five persons to have access to the court. And there is space in the court for us to sit.
“We were still trying to resolve it when the judge came in and we were all locked out. When attention was called to the fact that we were outside the court protesting about what happened. Instead of the court calling the attention of the lead counsel to find out what is going on, the court discussed with our client.”
Discussion about this post