International launch of the Lawfare Institute

The attorneys Cristiano Zanin Martins, Valeska Teixeira Martins and Rafael Valim will promote on December 5, at the University of London in England, the international launch of the newly created Lawfare Institute.

The consulting board is composed of jurists and professors from Europe, the United States, Brazil and Latin America. Among them are the South-African professor and anthropologist John Comaroff, the Argentine professor and lawyer Pablo Ángel Gutiérrez Colantuono, the British media specialist Sir Nicholas Lloyd, the American historian and professor James Naylor Green, from Brown University, the Brazilian historian and professor Sidney Chalhoub, the Brazilian jurist and professor Lenio Streck, the appellate judge Geraldo Prado, the lawyer José Roberto Batochio, and others.

Lawfare is a worldwide phenomenon and consists in the misuse of the laws for political purposes. The SOAS University of London is currently a point of reference in international law studies in England, where the term was used for the first time.

The term lawfare was used in Brazil by the defense of former President Lula to describe the violations of legal procedures by the Brazilian courts, as he was a victim of a collective act to discredit him and remove him from public life. Preventing Lula’s election is the struggle of some judges, public prosecutors and most part of the press in Brazil.

We must fight the constant attacks and violations against the right of defense, and for that reason, the Lawfare Institute was created. Among the goals of the Institute is fighting the abuse of the laws to damage an adversary’s public image and the constraint of liberty, as well as promoting the use of lawful and fair defense mechanisms.

In this war, like in all others, the truth is the first victim. The Justice system and the Laws cannot be used for political persecution. If this can happen to one person, it can also happen to a whole Nation.