the world's independent monitor of legal systems.

Only through civil engagement with the law and public scrutiny of judiciaries, the police and prosecution, can the rule of law properly spread and take hold around the world.

Click here to help empower civil society for justice

Other Norfolk groundbreakers include: Robert Walpole, Elizabeth Fry, Horatio Nelson, Thomas Paine, Charles Townshend and Thomas William Coke

"A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history." Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

and the OpenTrial for Dignity & Justice Group on

"An injustice sufferer's trauma, sense of vulnerability and powerlessness must cease to be compounded by the realisation that few will lift a finger to help."

Fair Trial

FAIR TRIAL

The basic criteria of this basic human right are:

PRE-TRIAL RIGHTS

1. The prohibition on arbitrary arrest and detention

2. The right to know the reasons for arrest

3. The right to legal counsel

4. The right to a prompt appearance before a judge to challenge the lawfulness of arrest and detention

5. The prohibition of torture and the right to humane conditions during pre-trial detention

6. The prohibition on incommunicado detention Read more

BEWARE, WEAK RULE OF LAW!

Belarus: EU acts against aberrant judges more

Turkey: Omur Cagdas Ersoy is charged with belonging to a left-wing armed faction that no longer exists, and Cengiz Dogan is a Kurd, effectively charged with being in two places at the same time. Some 500 students that are alleged members of terrorist groups, more than 100 journalists, 47 lawyers and thousands of Kurd sympathisers have been imprisoned. Pressure from the EU and human rights NGOs is bringing about releases.

Ukraine: Is Yulia Tymoshenko likely to receive a fair trial? Read more

Bahrain: medical staff from the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama subjected to torture & abuse, and unfair trials with predetermined outcomes. more

Red Travel/Business Warning: Bali, Indonesia. Corrupt elements in the police and prosecution service, which concoct criminal cases and extort, remain a threat to business people & tourists. Here, from the island, are some classic examples of the dangers of legal system extortion and the tyranny of the corrupt.

Red Business Warning: The Economist reports that: "one in six businessmen in Russia has been prosecuted for an alleged economic crime over the past decade." Read more

Testimonial

OpenTrial assists victims of legal system dysfunction.

Since June of 2011, I have received continuing and unstinting assistance from OpenTrial and benefited enormously from the assistance and services rendered. ...Read more

Let's Clean Up Justice Systems

Join us at the International Convention on Open Justice

to discuss how best to use modern technology to open up justice systems. Contact us if interested in attending/sponsoring it..

International OpenTrial Court Monitoring - Observers Needed

WHAT? - Court monitoring is a process of observing and gathering information on court practices and procedures and a vehicle for promoting improvements in the justice system.
WHO? - Monitoring is best done by outside observers, Read more

The Law's Majestic Equality.

Economic, social, and procedural barriers prevent the great majority of poor people in the world from achieving justice in courts. But what happens where social and economic (SE) rightsare enshriined in constitutions? Then, according to Varun Gauri and Dan Brinks, the impact of courts is positive: very much pro-poor in India and South Africa, distribution-neutral in Indonesia and Brazil; but sharply anti-poor in Nigeria.

US, clean up your act!

OpenTrial opposes extradition to the US until basic fair trial criteria are satisfied there. Also see "Legitimising Legal Dysfunction"

The Tyranny of Good Intentions.

By: Paul Craig Roberts (a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury) and Lawrence M. Stratton. If you thought weak rule of law only exists in the developing world, think again, for here is an excellent, eye-opening book that exposes the shocking erosion of the rule of law in the U.S. more

Also, read this New York Times article about police officers planting drugs, making false arrests, smuggling guns and being involved in corruption.

Transparency International's Advocacy Toolkit is an excellent guide to combating judicial corruption in various countries. Team up with us to implement it. Click here for a pdf copy.

Here we will be reviewing legal systems from around the world using the published findings of various bodies and professionals. more

Here's an Oath to Justice to help revive the ethic of Aristides

A quiet, steady man who loved justice and truth, Aristides was not interested in increasing his own wealth or prestige and despised mercenary motives in public men. Click here

State-Power Piracy - under colour of official right

A work-in-progress look at existing remedies and deterrents for state-power piracy with the view to possible consolidation into a template for a bill, for adaptation and enactment, which would make state-power piracy a serious criminal offence around the world, while at the same time ensuring judicial independence . more

From the Gazette

OpenTrial Gazette

Fauziah Ibrahim, of Al Jazeera English, looks at Indonesia’s Justice System, and finds it riddled with corruption and incompetent investigative procedures, where trials and sentences are often deemed unfair.

Also, OpenTrial provides more details as to why Indonesia’s court system is not credible and the danger this poses, particularly when death sentences are meted out for drug-related crimes.

Strictly no (more) white elephants
If today’s rule-of-law industry were in the private sector it would be on its last legs, or long extinct.

Interpol Boss Sees Red Over Red Notices

While concerns grow that Red Notices are not only being issued in violation of human rights, but also that corrupt police forces extend their reach with them, Interpol Chief, Ronald Noble, is angrily dismissive when probed. Click here to read a related article in The New Jurist.

Judicial Independence & Nigeria’s Nascent Democracy

The article examines the administration of justice in Nigeria’s nascent ‘democracy’, including the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, corruption in the judiciary, the delay in judicial process, etc.

One in six businessmen in Russia has been prosecuted for an alleged economic crime

"The statistics are staggering: one in six businessmen in Russia has been prosecuted for an alleged economic crime over the past decade. Most of the cases have no plaintiff and the number of acquittals is close to zero, according to studies by Russia’s Centre of Legal and Economic Research. This means that the vast number of Russian businessmen in jail are victims of corrupt prosecutors, police and courts, which can expropriate a business with impunity.

"As Yegor Gaidar, a prominent liberal economist, warned in 1994, “The carcass of a bureaucratic system can become the carcass of a mafia system, depending on its goals.” By the time his book appeared in 2009 his warning had become reality. In the past few years this “monstrous hybrid” has started to extend its tentacles into every sphere of public life where money can be made. Examples of violence against businessmen abound. This adds up to a Soviet-style policy of negative selection, where the best and most active are suppressed or eliminated while parasitic bureaucrats and law enforcers are rewarded. What Stalin wrought by repression and extermination, today’s Russia achieves by corruption and state violence."

Click here for the full article

	Join us at the International Convention on Open Justice to discuss how best to use modern technology to open up justice systems. Contact us if interested in attending/sponsoring it..
	International OpenTrial Court Monitoring - Observers Needed WHAT? - Court monitoring is a process of observing and gathering information on court practices and procedures and a vehicle for promoting improvements in the justice system. WHO? - Monitoring is best done by outside observers, Read more
	The Law's Majestic Equality. Economic, social, and procedural barriers prevent the great majority of poor people in the world from achieving justice in courts. But what happens where social and economic (SE) rightsare enshriined in constitutions? Then, according to Varun Gauri and Dan Brinks, the impact of courts is positive: very much pro-poor in India and South Africa, distribution-neutral in Indonesia and Brazil; but sharply anti-poor in Nigeria.
	US, clean up your act! OpenTrial opposes extradition to the US until basic fair trial criteria are satisfied there. Also see "Legitimising Legal Dysfunction" The Tyranny of Good Intentions. By: Paul Craig Roberts (a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury) and Lawrence M. Stratton. If you thought weak rule of law only exists in the developing world, think again, for here is an excellent, eye-opening book that exposes the shocking erosion of the rule of law in the U.S. more Also, read this New York Times article about police officers planting drugs, making false arrests, smuggling guns and being involved in corruption.
	Transparency International's Advocacy Toolkit is an excellent guide to combating judicial corruption in various countries. Team up with us to implement it. Click here for a pdf copy.
	Here we will be reviewing legal systems from around the world using the published findings of various bodies and professionals. more
	Here's an Oath to Justice to help revive the ethic of Aristides A quiet, steady man who loved justice and truth, Aristides was not interested in increasing his own wealth or prestige and despised mercenary motives in public men. Click here
	State-Power Piracy - under colour of official right A work-in-progress look at existing remedies and deterrents for state-power piracy with the view to possible consolidation into a template for a bill, for adaptation and enactment, which would make state-power piracy a serious criminal offence around the world, while at the same time ensuring judicial independence . more

	Fauziah Ibrahim, of Al Jazeera English, looks at Indonesia’s Justice System, and finds it riddled with corruption and incompetent investigative procedures, where trials and sentences are often deemed unfair. Also, OpenTrial provides more details as to why Indonesia’s court system is not credible and the danger this poses, particularly when death sentences are meted out for drug-related crimes.
	Strictly no (more) white elephants If today’s rule-of-law industry were in the private sector it would be on its last legs, or long extinct.
	Interpol Boss Sees Red Over Red Notices While concerns grow that Red Notices are not only being issued in violation of human rights, but also that corrupt police forces extend their reach with them, Interpol Chief, Ronald Noble, is angrily dismissive when probed. Click here to read a related article in The New Jurist.
	Judicial Independence & Nigeria’s Nascent Democracy The article examines the administration of justice in Nigeria’s nascent ‘democracy’, including the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, corruption in the judiciary, the delay in judicial process, etc.