Clooneys take steps towards transparent trials

WASHINGTON: A justice foundation created by George and Amal Clooney is set to announce a global initiative called TrialWatch to monitor court trials where there is a risk of abuse and to rank countries’ judicial systems.

Working with the Columbia University Law School and the American Bar Association, the TrialWatch initiative will train an international network of court monitors, including non-lawyers, whose reports will be used by legal experts to grade trials according to international standards, several lawyers and academics involved with TrialWatch said.

“Today, courts all over the world are used as tools of oppression. Governments get away too easily with imprisoning opposition figures, silencing critics and persecuting vulnerable groups through the courts. Trial monitoring will shine a light on these abuses,” Amal said in a statement.

Amal, who married the Oscarwinning actor George in 2014, is an international law and human rights lawyer who has been a visiting professor at Columbia University Law School since 2015.

She and her husband launched the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which focuses on promoting justice in courtrooms and elsewhere, in 2016.

Her high profile cases have includ- ed representing Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, and the former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, as well as the country of Armenia in its fight for recognition of the Armenian genocide.

Sarah Cleveland, faculty director of Columbia University Law School’s Human Rights Institute, said that while many organisations monitor high-profile trials, TrialWatch also will scrutinise lesser-known cases.