"TrialWatch website" , Apr 2019

Courts are increasingly being used as a tool of oppression. In many countries, prosecutors and judges are used to imprison government critics and minorities. In other places, a judge’s rulings can be purchased by the highest bidder. Judges can also be complicit in grave human rights abuses when they convict for ‘crimes’ such as homosexuality or blasphemy, or when they ignore the due process rights of defendants. Yet judges and prosecutors are rarely held to account. In some countries, courtrooms are closed...TrialWatch has partnered with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to develop an interactive trial monitoring...Trial monitors will be deployed to observe and report on criminal trials ..TrialWatch will work with legal experts to assess the fairness of trials...TrialWatch will gather data that will contribute to a justice index... This will rank countries according to the fairness of their justice system ...TrialWatch is global in scope and focused on trials targeting journalists, LGBTQ persons, women and girls, religious minorities, and human rights defenders... [W]e are monitoring or have monitored... the trial of six activists in Zambia charged with disobeying lawful orders in connection with a planned, peaceful protest against government corruption...