When I was young - in other words a long time ago - and I wished to become a lawyer, all around me told me that the principle duty of any worth-while advocate is to defend justice, and to offer to defend the rights of any person who seeks his or her help. On the other hand, it was explained to me that an important part of that duty is to explain to the client if his or her circumstances obliged him or her to plead guilty and, if need be, plead as best I could in mitigation of any penalty which he might face.
I have always followed this principle and I dare to say that I found pleasure in explaining to actions of my clients in a manner which allowed judges to see grounds for reducing the penalties as much as possible. It always seemed to me that, if I dug deep enough into the past and the personality of the client, I would find something good, even in cases where the world would find it difficult to see it without my perseverence.
However, the case of a professional colleague has shocked me when I learned that he had gone so far as to abandon his duty to defend justice, and had signed up in a foreign oppressive force, whose principal task was and remains to subjugate and, far too often, to maltreat and kill its victims. I had wished to give him as an example of those who should be charged within the legal system for their implication in terrorist crimes, but I have been advised that I should not publish his name because his relations with those in power are so close that he would be sure to win before judges corrupted by this same power if he should sue me for defamation or for false accusation. I must stress that my intention was only to let the public know what this colleague had admitted, and even boasted about and publicised, himself, and not to venture into vague suppositions as to his activities in favour of terrorist bodies.
Having said that, I am bitter at the thought that a simple suggestion that this man should be charged should lead me into risking myself becoming a victim of his vindictiveness. I nevertheless hope to be able one day to help to create a climate in which such a proposal of charges might be accepted as a serious contribution to the search for peace in our unstable and suffering world, and to the protection and defence of justice itself.
So far as this particular colleague is concerned, many believe that he has no conscience, or that he does not see the usefulness of having one, and that he boasts of his invulnerability before what I had believed to be the fount of justice in our country. What seems certain to me is that his parents, who are admirable, honest and among the most respectable of people, must be disappointed to have such a son who dishonours, with all this publicity which he seeks so actively, all the good which they have done over the years in favour of justice for all.
* 'avocat' is a trial lawyer
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