The court of Rotterdam lifted the pre-trial detention of lawyer Inez Weski on Thursday. The court judges that there is no longer any reason to detain her any longer.
The Public Prosecution Service announced on Thursday afternoon that the “serious objections” against Weski remain. Justice wanted the suspect lawyer to remain in custody, but the court no longer considered it necessary to keep her in custody for the investigation.
The criminal lawyer (68) was arrested on April 21 and had already been detained for 41 days. Her office in Rotterdam and her home have been searched by the judiciary. Weski was arrested on suspicion of participation in a criminal organization engaged in international drug trafficking and money laundering.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, the lawyer also passed on messages to and from her client Ridouan Taghi, who has been detained in the Extra Secure Institution (EBI) in Vught since his arrest in Dubai in 2019. Life imprisonment was demanded against him and four co-defendants last year for ordering six liquidations.
The suspicions against the lawyer, who has been in the profession for over forty years, arose in the summer of 2022 when an update became available with decrypted messages from SkyECC, the OM announced this spring. SkyECC was a popular service in the criminal world because users believed that the encrypted messages could not be read by the police.
Closed doors
The session in which the extension of the detention was discussed on Thursday took place behind closed doors. It is unclear what evidence the judiciary has against Weski and what investigative steps still need to be taken. On May 12, Weski’s lawyers, Fébe Schoolderman and Rob Baumgardt, announced that the restrictions placed on Weski by the prosecutor have been lifted. The suspect was then also allowed to have contact with people other than her lawyers.
Weski’s lawyers have so far not responded to the suspicions that exist regarding Weski’s actions. The lawyers said last month that they could not comment on the allegations. ‘After all, the client remains bound by the confidentiality obligation it has as a lawyer towards all its clients. The defense is therefore bound hand and foot and cannot respond to the content of the allegations, neither in court nor outside it.”
Read also: Weski’s arrest shows the precarious position of criminal lawyers
Weski has since been suspended as a lawyer by the Bar Association. The suspension will be lifted as soon as the suspicions against the lawyer prove to be unfounded. Taghi does not have a new lawyer yet. At least for now, he’s conducting his own defense.
Ten days before her arrest, Inez Weski sold her law firm to her son, lawyer Guy Weski. According to Guy Weski, the sale of the partnership founded by Inez’s older sister had been in the works for years.
According to Weski’s lawyers, “the client has not made a statement because of her duty of confidentiality and she will not do so,” they said Thursday afternoon. “The impact of everything that has happened since April 21 is huge. We urge everyone to respect their privacy.”
This article has been supplemented with the response of Weski’s lawyers.