Wanted: lawyer to defend notorious cime boss Ridouan Taghi

The Dutch council of deans, which monitors legal practices, has taken the unusual step of issuing a call for lawyers to take on the defence of gang leader Ridouan Taghi.

The email, seen by the NRC, has resulted in a few positive responses, a spokesman for he council told broadcaster NOS.

Taghi, the main suspect in the long-running Marengo trial, was sentenced to life for his role in a string of gangland killings over several years.

He has since appealed but has been without legal representation since April, when lawyer Vito Shukrula was arrested for alleged membership of a criminal organisation and relaying confidential information to the crime boss.

Lawyers Inez Weski and Taghi’s cousin Youssef T. were also arrested for allegedly being in cahoots with the crime boss.

Carlo Crince le Roy and Sultan Kat Taghi, Taghi’s last remaining lawyers, also abandoned the case, alleging they were being hindered in their work by the state.

Weski spent six weeks in custody after she was accused of passing information to Taghi’s criminal network while her client was detained at the maximum security prison in Vught. Weski was held for nine days at a secret location, which justice ministry inspectors later found was a violation of Dutch and international law.

Taghi said that none of the six law firms he had approached was willing to take on his case. “No lawyer is eager to defend me. The answer was no every time,” he told the judge at a hearing in June.

“One of the roles of the council of deans is to help supply legal aid,” a spokesman for the council said. “A call like this is rare, but it’s the best way to find a new team, considering the circumstances and the magnitude of the case,” he said.

The next hearing in the Marengo trial is scheduled for September 2, but the search for a new lawyer may delay the trial.