This is the beginning of the end for the rule of law, because it means that the government has discretion over who has the right to legal counsel and who does not, lawyers say.

Attorney associations in the Belgian capital have issued a joint statement criticising the latest sanctions against Russia. Chamber President Emmanuel Plasschaert expressed his concerns in the Belgian newspaper La Libre.

„Obviously, we strongly support Ukraine and its people, who are facing unacceptable aggression from Russia. But this war and the atrocities that accompany it must not make us forget that law and justice are not a service like any other, but a guarantee of a healthy democracy,”

Mr Plasschaert said, adding that the text of the regulation prohibits lawyers from advising certain clients. If we follow this logic, „one day lawyers will be told that they cannot defend this or that person whom is considered unacceptable,” he opined.

˙”This is the beginning of the end of the rule of law, because it means that the government has discretion to decide who has the right to a lawyer and who does not. This is as inconceivable as it is unacceptable, because to admit it would be to betray our most fundamental values, which are what distinguish us from dictatorship. The right to legal counsel or protection is a universal right which cannot be modified according to geostrategic interests, however legitimate those interests may be.”

Emmanuel Plasschaert remarked that when a patient arrives at the hospital, the law applies in the same way. Everyone must be treated, regardless of who that person is.

The Belgian government has already shown that it insists on sanctions and solidarity only in areas where such measures do not endanger the pockets of the elite. V4NA earlier reported that it turned out that the diamond trade is more important to Belgium than the energy supply in the winter months. At least one might think that, considering that the country managed to persuade the European Union not to include one of Russia’s largest diamond-mining companies on the sanctions list while demanding a ban on Russian energy carriers.

The EU had intended to include the diamond trade in its sanctions package because Alrosa had directly financed a new Russian naval submarine and also feeds billions of euros a year into the Kremlin’s war chest.

That sanctions list eventually included 29 private individuals and 7 legal entities.