{"id":16222,"date":"2021-01-31T15:13:04","date_gmt":"2021-01-31T15:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=156726"},"modified":"2021-01-31T15:13:04","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T15:13:04","slug":"majlis-podcast-lawyers-in-central-asia-defending-clients-and-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/31\/majlis-podcast-lawyers-in-central-asia-defending-clients-and-themselves\/","title":{"rendered":"Majlis Podcast: Lawyers In Central Asia \u2014 Defending Clients And Themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"
January 24 was the Day of the Endangered Lawyer<\/a><\/strong> and an opportunity to remember the many problems some Central Asian attorneys have to face.<\/p>\n In Central Asia, defendants have a right to an attorney, but state-appointed defenders have a reputation for half-hearted work or, in some cases, even supporting the prosecution in convicting their clients.<\/p>\n Being an independent lawyer willing to defend people who for some reason or another are looked upon as a nuisance or threat by the governments of the region is a hazardous occupation.<\/p>\n Some of these attorneys are intimidated or threatened, some are attacked, and some are imprisoned.<\/p>\n On this week’s Majlis podcast, RFE\/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on the plight of lawyers in Central Asia.<\/p>\n This week’s guests are: Madina Akhmetova, the director of the Dignity public association based in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan; Jasmine Cameron, who is originally from Kyrgyzstan but is now a senior staff attorney at the Human Rights Center of the American Bar Association; from California, Steve Swerdlow, a longtime Central Asia watcher, recently returned from Uzbekistan, and human rights lawyer who is currently an associate professor of human rights at the University of Southern California; and from Prague, Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.<\/p>\n Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes<\/a><\/strong> or on Google Podcasts<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n