Arrested Criminal Lawyer Inez Weski Resigns Defense of Ridouan Taghi: What It Means for the Marengo Trial?

Arrested criminal lawyer Inez Weski is resigning the defense of Ridouan Taghi, it was announced today. What does her arrest mean for the extensive Marengo liquidation process? And what about Weski? Today the judge ruled that the suspicions are serious enough to extend the pre-trial detention by two weeks.

The criminal lawyer is being held on suspicion of participation in a criminal organization involved in international drug trafficking and money laundering. She is also suspected of breaching secrets.

An extension of pre-trial detention is not unusual, says Sven Brinkhoff, professor of criminal procedure law at the University of Amsterdam. “The Public Prosecution Service came out with the arrest on Friday and now we have the judge’s first decision on this point. He thinks that what is now is in any case serious enough.”

It is another step in a “sad and complex case involving this lawyer”, says Brinkhoff. “It is a lawyer who was well known and did big cases, now she is in the suspect’s bench.”

The counselor assisted the main suspect in Marengo, Ridouan Taghi, for years. The fact that Weski has stopped can have major consequences, says Brinkhoff. “It can delay the process. You can already see in cases against co-defendants that lawyers have been postponed. They first want to see what the consequences of this new turn will be and what effect it will have on other cases.”

Paul Waarts, press judge of the court in Amsterdam where the Marengo trial is being held, says that the verdict on the case is still scheduled for October. He doesn’t want to speak of delay yet. “The most important work has of course already been done, postponing those cases does not have to have consequences for the verdict,” says Waarts.

The press judge does not see the fact that the main suspect is now without a lawyer as an obstacle. “The court will look at possible new lawyers together with the suspect.”

“The question is what Taghi will do. Whether he thinks it’s so good and that he can complete the process without a lawyer, or whether he wants a new lawyer. But the chance that he says ‘I can do without’ seems very small to me,” says Brinkhoff.

The professor wonders who wants to take on the defense. “In this case it becomes a complicated puzzle, how do you proceed now. But also in a possible appeal. Can he just find a new lawyer? Who insists on wanting to conduct the defense?”, says Brinkhoff.

In addition to the question of how the Marengo process will continue, it is also unclear what awaits 68-year-old Weski himself.

The suspicions against her make it difficult for Weski to defend himself, says Brinkhoff. “From a suspect’s perspective, she may want to speak up and help her own case.” But, the professor of criminal procedure emphasizes, “at the same time she has a duty of confidentiality with regard to the case she has released. They will collide with each other, you can take poison on that.”

Police and the Public Prosecution Service will question Weski extensively. “Many of those questions will affect her duty of confidentiality, which she cannot really answer. That makes her defense very difficult,” said Brinkhoff.

For now, the police are still fully engaged in the investigation and there are serious suspicions. Only when the public prosecutor decides whether or not to prosecute will progress be made, says Brinkhoff. “Does the officer say ‘no, there is not enough evidence, we’re going to stop?’ or does the officer say ‘yes, we are going to the criminal court’. We are at the beginning of a very complicated process. This can take a very long time.”