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Appointments

Deputy District Judge (Magistrates’ Court) 2009
European Human Rights Advocacy Centre – Senior Lawyer
Independent Member of the Parole Board

Education

1996 BA Joint Hons Politics & French
1997 Common Professional Examination (Middle Temple Scholarship Award)
1998 Bar Vocational Course (ICSL)
2006 LLM in Public International Law (University of London – SOAS)

Practice

Specialist criminal and human rights practitioner with particular expertise acting in cases which have an international dimension.

Extensive experience dealing with criminal justice/rule of law and capacity building issues arising out of a variety of jurisdictions including Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Russian Federation, Georgia and Iraq. Regularly acts as an expert in human rights/criminal justice issues for a range of global organisations which have included OSCE, IBA, FCO, Council of Europe and the International Criminal Bar Association. Experience conducting fact-finding missions, trial monitoring, training programmes and capacity building work.

Joanna Evans is associated with the following areas of expertise:

Crime
Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance
Human Rights Law
International Criminal Law
Prison Law

Cases

Crime

Wide range of criminal trial experience both in domestic and international courts. Trial work has included genocide, crimes against humanity, kidnapping, false imprisonment, large scale drug importations and serious fraud. Examples include:

  • The Prosecutor -v- Ferdinand Nahimana ‘The Media Trial’ (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) - Acted for the defence on behalf of Professor Nahimana - one of the founders of the radio station RTLM which was held to have been used as a tool to incite genocide in Rwanda 1994. Charges included conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to genocide and crimes against humanity.
  • R v Dhanoa – Kidnap/false imprisonment of 11 year old boy and blackmail of parents.
  • R v Yuce – Large-scale conspiracy to import Class A drugs
  • R –v- Armeson – Conspiracy to defraud conducted by primary school headmasters and staff
  • R v Robinson & others – Armed robbery

Extradition and mutual legal assistance

 

  • The Government of Rwanda v Bajinya & others - Acted both at first instance and before the Administrative Court on behalf of one of four men requested by the Government of Rwanda on accusations of genocide. Extradition barred on grounds that the defendants could not be guaranteed a fair trial in Rwanda.

International criminal and human rights law

 

Particular experience litigating on behalf of applicants before the European Court of Human Rights in cases of serious human rights violations (disappearances; extra-judicial killings; torture; inhuman/degrading treatment and violations of fair trial rights).  Senior Lawyer to the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre acting in concert with local lawyers in a wide range of cases emanating from the Russian Federation and other ex-Soviet countries. Has also acted as counsel on behalf of the Kurdish Human Rights Project.

Three month sabbatical as a Pegasus Scholar working on capital punishment cases at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Cases include:

  • Osmanoglu v. The Republic of Turkey [ECHR]– enforced disappearance case in South-East Turkey – violations of article 2 (right to life) and article 3 (freedom from torture and inhuman/degrading treatment) of the Convention.
  • G (& others) v Russia [ECHR] – EHRAC acting with Russian NGO Planet of Hopes – the applicants’ relatives participated in clean-up operations following a nuclear accident and subsequently suffered/died from radiation related illnesses. The applicants allege that the Russian authorities have failed to provide them with the compensation to which they are entitled.
  • K (& others) v Russia [ECHR] – EHRAC acting with Russian NGO Memorial on behalf of applicants who complain of severe torture whilst held in Russian detention centres.
  • South Ossetian conflict cases [ECHR] –  EHRAC acting with the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association on behalf of applicants complaining of serious violations of the ECHR occurring during the armed conflict between Russian and Georgia in 2008. Complaints include civilian deaths and injuries caused by alleged indiscriminate air attacks on villages as well as deliberate burning and looting of civilian houses by troops.
  • Domingues v United States (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights) Assistant to staff lawyer conducting detailed research on the application of capital punishment to juvenile offenders in the USA

Articles & Publications

Contributor to ‘Oxford Companion to International Criminal Law and Justice’ (Oxford University Press 2008)

Co-author with HHJ Sylvia de Bertodano of book ‘Bridging the Gap: Addressing Impunity in Transitional States’ Publication forthcoming by No Peace Without Justice

Associated Work

Memberships

  • Kurdish Human Rights Project Legal Team
  • DFID Stabilisation Unit - Deployable Civilian Expert (Justice and Prisons)
  • Fair Trials International Legal Experts Advisory Panel
  • Liberty - Member of the Board of Directors (2000 - 2005) Council member (1998-2006)

Advisory/Monitoring/Training work

  • Many years experience in rule of law/capacity building work on behalf of a wide range of organisations and dealing with issues arising from jurisdictions all over the world. The following is a selection of work undertaken in past years:
  • Institute for Human Rights and Social Justice (2009) – FCO sponsored training in international criminal law and human rights law for members of the Darfur Bar.
  • International Bar Association (2008) – Training to members of the Armenian judiciary in international fair trial standards.
  • Human Rights Watch (2007) Counsel in HRW International Justice programme focusing on the work of the International Criminal Court. Conducted field missions to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  • Amnesty International (2006) Advice on the prosecution of rape and crimes of sexual violence before international criminal tribunals.
  • Womens’ Initiative for Gender Justice (2005-2007) Advisory work for in relation to proposed litigation at the International Criminal Court on behalf of victims of sexual violence within the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  • Foreign & Commonwealth Office/International Bar Association (2005-2006) Member of a panel of experts delivering specialised training in international criminal law to Iraqi Judiciary and prosecutors.
  • Kurdish Human Rights Project (2001 onwards) Member of KHRP Legal Team including litigation work, fact-finding missions and trial monitoring in Turkey.
  • Prior to commencing pupillage, Joanna worked as a legal investigator at the Center for Capital Assistance, San Fransisco dealing with the investigation of post-conviction appeal in a Mississippi capital punishment case.

Directories

Recommended as a leading junior in civil liberties in The Legal 500

Contact

T. 020 7067 1500

E. jevans@25bedfordrow.com