International counsel to detained Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, Mr Bruce Fein, has written Justice James Omotosho, the judge handling his client’s case.

In the letter titled “Re: Dismissal of prosecution of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for lack of jurisdiction”, Fein reminded the jurist that “No government should profit from its own criminality. That has been binding law from time immemorial.”

Fein went further to state that “Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. Nothing is more unjust than a government profiting from its own crimes.”

He said the legendary United States Supreme Court Justice Louis D Brandeis instructed in Olmstead v. United States (1928), that “In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously.

‘Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.

‘To declare that, in the administration of the criminal law, the end justifies the means—to declare that the Government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminal—would bring terrible retribution.’”

Fein told Justice Omotosho that the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and Nigerian courts have both determined that the Federal Government of Nigeria committed multiple crimes in forcibly bringing Kanu within his Court’s jurisdiction.

“The Government’s crimes include kidnapping, torture, and extraordinary rendition. These are universal jus cogens crimes under international law binding on Nigeria with or without its consent.

“They oust Nigerian courts of jurisdiction to prosecute Mr Kanu to prevent the Government of Nigeria from profiting from its own crimes. Thus, the Working Group in paragraph 107 of its July 20, 2022 Opinion directed the ‘immediate unconditional’ release of Mr Kanu by the Government of Nigeria.

“Following orders is no defense to universal crimes. If you refrain from dismissing all outstanding charges against Mr Kanu for lack of jurisdiction, you will be legally implicated in the crimes perpetrated by the Government of Nigeria in bringing Mr Kanu before your tribunal.

“You will be vulnerable to prosecution before the International Criminal Court. You will have been unfaithful to your professional duty to see that justice is done,” Fein added. (THE SUN)

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