The Dean Council has called on criminal lawyers to report if they are willing to defend Ridouan Taghi. This is apparent from an e-mail from the Dutch Association of Criminal Lawyers (NVSA), viewed by NRCin which the call is distributed on behalf of the Dean Council.
“The Dean Council calls on criminal lawyers who are willing to provide Lordouan T. Legal Aid in a team, in itself to report by 31 August 2025 at the latest,” is read in the mail. With those lawyers, it would then be coordinated under what conditions they could take on the defense.
The Dean Council is a consultative body of eleven local blankets that supervise compliance with the lawyers rules. A call like this is unusual. Taghi, main suspect in the Marengo process, has been without a lawyer since April this year. That happened after the arrest of his counselor Vito Shukrula. Taghi attempts to find a new lawyer himself have since failed.
Shukrula was Taghi’s third lawyer accused of membership of a criminal organization. In 2023, Taghi’s cousin and lawyer Youssef T. was sentenced to five and a half years in prison. Former lawyer Inez Weski is also suspected of membership of a criminal organization. Her criminal case is still ongoing.
The next session in the appeal of the Marengo process is scheduled for 2 September. Due to the search for a lawyer, the process threatens to be delayed. Het Parool Writes that the Dean Council has since received several responses, but that it still needs to be assessed whether there are promising registrations.
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