Saab’s lawyers threaten to put visitation on hold over Cape Verde’s ‘wicked, arbitrary measures’

The defense team of Alex Saab, the embattled Venezuelan diplomat currently held in Cape Verde, has officially written to the Prime Minister and the office of the National Police, Sal Regional Command, to notify them of what it says are “wicked and arbitrary measures” being meted out to the team and its client.  

On Tuesday, José Manuel Pinto Monteiro, lead attorney of Mr. Saab told the press that security officials stationed at the entrance of the apartment where Saab is being held in turned him away when he went to visit the detainee.

In a letter dated 27 January 2021 and signed by Pinto Monteiro, the defense team making reference to the development said it was unlaw for them to have been denied access to the client although the client is under house arrest.

“Article 159.1 of the Statute of the Bar Association, EOA, approved by Law No. 91/VI/ 2006, of 9 January, provides that law enforcement officers must ensure that lawyers, when exercising their profession, are treated in a manner compatible with the dignity of the law and have adequate conditions for the exercise of their mandate,” the letter read.

“The crimes committed against lawyers in the exercise of their profession and because of that exercise are punished as if such crimes had been against agents of authority (Article 172 of the EOA). From these crystalline provisions and from this legal regulation, there are no doubts that the way the review is applied to lawyers is totally illegal and unworthy and constitutes an obstacle to the exercise of the profession of lawyer,” it added and threatened that “Until these wicked and arbitrary measures applied to lawyers are modified, visits to the detainee will no longer be carried out, and, your excellency will by the person legally and morally responsible for this decision, and all other consequences arising from it.”

Mr. Saab was arrested by police in Cape Verde in June last year on his way to Iran aboard a private jet. According to Times Union, U.S. officials believe Saab holds many secrets about how Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, his family, and top aides allegedly siphoned off millions of dollars in government contracts amid widespread hunger in the oil-rich nation.

The U.S. wants him extradited to face charges of corruption, but Venezuela has taken a stance against that decision as Mr. Saab’s lawyers fight to stop the process.

The lawyers in a clarification letter to José Ulisses de Pina Correia e Silva contended that the detention of their client is unlawful. Citing literatures about INTERPOL Red Notice, the team averred that:

“The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, enjoys immunity ratione personae. In the event that the President of Venezuela travelled to Cabo Verde, the authorities in Cabo Verde would be obligated not to take any act of authority against him.  The President of Venezuela is unable to leave Venezuela as he steers the country out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In his place, the President of Venezuela authorised and sent Mr Saab to represent him in the conduct of Venezuelan affairs. As such, Mr Saab enjoys the immunity ratione personae that the President of Venezuela would have enjoyed had he transited through Cabo Verde on 12 June 2020, and this immunity has not been waived by Venezuela. Indeed, the Government of Venezuela has informed the Government of Cabo Verde that Mr Saab has immunity. The foregoing means that, in arresting and detaining Mr Saab, the authorities in Cabo Verde have taken coercive measures which hinder Mr Saab in the performance of his duties. They have breached Mr Saab’s immunity ratione personae. This same immunity ratione personae precludes Cabo Verde from extraditing or surrendering Mr Saab to the US, as such extradition or surrender would be an act of authority by Cabo Verde which would hinder Mr Saab in the performance of his duties.   

“Hence, having regard to Mr Saab’s immunity under international law, INTERPOL does not expect his provisional arrest, unless Venezuela waives the immunity. Therefore, Cabo Verde cannot rely on the Red Notice of 13 June 2020 to justify the detention of Mr Saab.

With the aforementioned and many others, Saab’s defense team mentioned that they hoped the Cape Verdean Prime Minister “will find it appropriate to inform the parliament that Cabo Verde was not required by INTERPOL to ignore Mr. Saab status as a special envoy on mission and detain him notwithstanding his immunity under international law.”