Following media reports about the authorities’ refusal to allow Chaim Pearlman, who is suspected of murdering four Palestinians, to meet with his lawyer, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) appealed urgently to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein on Monday, July 19. In the appeal, ACRI demanded the removal of an order denying a meeting with a lawyer, in effect since last Tuesday.
Lila Margalit, ACRI’s expert on Human Rights in Criminal Justice, wrote in the appeal:
“The right of a suspect to meet with a lawyer is a basic constitutional right, one that guarantees a fair investigation and that the safeguarding of the detainees’ rights. A detainee who is being investigated for a number of days without contact with a lawyer is likely to be exposed to unacceptable investigative methods, even torture, and cannot possibly defend himself against the violation of his rights and freedom. Furthermore, preventing a meeting with a lawyer enhances the heavy emotional stress inherent in all arrests and investigations, and as such creates a substantial risk for eliciting false confessions and as a result, distorted justice.”
In the appeal, Attorney Margalit refers to figures published on “The Innocence Project” site (A legal clinic conducted by Yeshiva University’s Law School), revealing that among 225 cases of false convictions, 23% of them were handed down following false confessions”.
Pearlman’s case comes following a similar case in which ACRI intervened on behalf of Amir Makhoul, who was also prevented from meeting with a lawyer following his arrest.
