Former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri and former Vice-President of the European Parliament Eva Kaili, both detained since December 9 as part of the Qatargate probe, remain in prison for at least two months. This was announced by the spokesman for the Belgian public prosecutor’s office ANSA. The council chamber of the Brussels court has decided to extend it the precautionary detention for at least a month of MEP Marc Tarabella, who has been imprisoned since last Saturday in connection with Qatargate. This was announced by the Belgian politician’s lawyer, Maxim Toeller, and announced an appeal. “We will therefore return to the courtroom in fifteen days,” he emphasizes.
“I say this as a political opponent of the left, baffled by the idea that European politicians could have been paid from abroad: Keeping the Qatargate suspects in jail with all the evidence, documents and money already seized seems unnecessarily punitive to me,” said league boss Matteo Salvini following the decision to keep Pier Antonio Panzeri and Eva Kaili in prison.
“If a person becomes just a symbol and is held symbolically because they are famous as the Vice-President of the European Parliament, then it makes no sense.” This was stated by Eva Kaili’s lawyer, Sven Mary, at the end of the hearing on the review of the pre-trial detention of Greek politics and underlined this “Today there is neither the danger of the destruction of evidence nor of collusion”. “We have asked for Ms Kaili’s conditional release and asked for house arrest,” he added. “Eva Kaili’s conditions of detention are difficult, her place is not Haren prison, she has to stay at home with her 24-month-old daughter.” imprisoned former Vice-President of the European Parliament as part of Qatargate to the press.
The MEP’s legal team Marc Tarabellaarrested last Saturday as part of the investigation Qatargate, instead filed a motion to stay the investigating judge, Michael Claise, “on the basis of reasonable suspicion”. This was announced by lawyer Maxim Toeller before the hearing began to confirm the Belgian politician’s detention. “According to the court rules, ‘any judge can be challenged if there is reasonable suspicion’. And there is a justified suspicion: We were able to ask ourselves questions about respecting the presumption of innocence several times,” emphasizes the lawyer. “With Mr Tarabella speaking, we have again fully denied the allegations made against him and will continue to do so. He reiterated that he was innocent and gave reasons. We had access to the documents and in our opinion they do not justify preventive detention. For this we simply ask for his release“said Belgian MEP Maxim Toller’s lawyer at the end of the hearing confirming pre-trial detention come tonight,” he said. “From this investigation, we are under the impression that preventive detention is intended to put pressure” on the suspects and “to get something done” from those who “recourse to the pentito statute, particularly depriving others of seeing their children. Rigorous application of the law is required in the face of an investigation that reveals an attack on democracy.” Maxim Toeller, MEP Marc Tarabella’s lawyer, said at the end of the hearing for confirmation of detention in Qatargate “We have filed a motion to stay because we believe the presumption of innocence has been violated”.
“I was able to access the dossier” of the Qatargate investigation and I can say there are other elements that are not being made public and that the leaks in the press were clearly directed. I deeply regret it because it is an attack on the presumption of innocence,” said Maxim Toeller, lawyer for Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella, at the end of the hearing on the determination of pre-trial detention at the Brussels Palace of Justice: “The Leaks” during the Belgian Maxi investigation surfaced are “absolutely shocking” and “systematically oriented” because the information is only “discovered” when it’s “against” the suspects, “and not when they’re for it.” , attacked the attorney, citing “unsuccessful” searches, meaning no discovery of evidence against Tarabella that was never released to the press.
Read the full article on ANSA.it