Gogu at the Laws Committee: An independent lawyer is not a privilege of the profession, it is a guarantee for the citizen

Justice Minister Toni Gogu presented to the Laws Committee the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer, as part of the procedure for its ratification by the Assembly.

In his speech, Minister Gogu placed the citizen and their right to an effective defence against state power at the centre, stressing that the issue is not simply about a profession.

“The issue being addressed today is not simply an issue of the legal profession, but concerns the essence of what happens when each of us finds ourselves facing the power of the state,” Gogu said.

The Convention aims to guarantee the conditions for lawyers to practise their profession freely and independently, protecting freedom of expression, the confidentiality of lawyer–client communication, protection from threats and harassment, as well as fair and proportionate disciplinary procedures.

The minister stressed that these guarantees do not give lawyers immunity from the law, but protect the conditions under which they exercise their function in a state governed by the rule of law.

Gogu also underlined that a strong justice system is not built by weakening one side of the process. “A fair system requires that the prosecutor have all the means to investigate, the court be independent to check legality, and the defence be free to challenge the state when the law and the facts require it. The strength of one is not measured by the weakening of the other,” he said.

The Convention also provides for its implementation to be monitored by GRAVO, a group of independent experts of the Council of Europe. According to the minister, ratification is not a declaration that all problems have been solved, but the acceptance of an international standard and of the fact that the manner of its implementation must be measurable from the outside as well.