35c3 Leipzig notes - Robert Tibbo : An update on Snowden Refugees
0I had the pleasure to go to the 35th edition of the Chaos Communication Congress. Here are some notes of some talks.
Robert Tibbo : An update on the Snowden refugees family
Actively stopped by HK authorities to break attorney link with E.Snowden & the family who helped him. Criminal cases were built against him. Was extraded from HK, currrently exiled in France.
Tactics to overwhelm him with work to make obstruction to his work on other cases. HK stopped paying him, and fast-tracked the Refugees case to appeal.
Arbitrary arrests & detention of witnesses in HK, denied access to an attorney & even to an Interpreter. Denied access to Tibbo to his clients.
Authoritarian governments fetch information, but do not disclose information. Tibbo will so disclose information to balance things. LO Chi-Kan and Yeun Wan-wing, two officers from HK, headed the efforts to pressure Tibbo.
Marc André Séguin, head of a MTL-based legal team, has been put under surveillance, intimidation acts and preessuree from HK. He’s been followed and greeted by officers in public areas.
Attacking lawyers -> attacking clients -> attacking the mere idea of rights
HK tried to disbar Tibbo, after numerous attempts to invalidate his attorney-client relationship to the refugees family.
HK stopped instructing Tibbo on criminal cases he was working on. Accusations of unprofessional behaviors, effectively withdrawing him of any client work. The HKBA (HK Bar Association) made public claims at the occasion of lawyer congresses on Tibbo.
Rumors were spread, and fellow bar members warned Tibbo that he was in danger. Complaints shown by the state were always anonymous, without evidence.
HK accused him of using the Refugees to draw money from the State. Still, no name, no evidence. Tibbo notified the state to provide full disclosure about those complaints. A complaint for being “impolite to a prosecutor” was running for 5 years.
Bar Disciplinary Proceedings deny Tibbo any counsel of assurance. Jefferey Robertson, counselor.
Tibbo admitted the complain, and was fined 10K.
A dummy complaint was submitted by “Large Group of Exasperated Barristers”.
In HK, refugees cases succeed at a rate of approx 0.2%. The HKBA advances that Tibbo’s proceedings harm HKBA’s reputation and damages their credibility.
The complaints are signed by two “Large groups […]”. That could be anyone, ten people or everyone. No way for Tibbo to know who’s on what side or if this complaint is even real.
Concealment and malice puts HKBA into disgrace. No bar would have charged on anonymous complaints in this way.
Tibbo concludes that those complaints are methods to exfiltrate data from Tibbo’s clients. Those methods are akin to mass surveillance & authoritarian governance.
Tibbo’s cases seem to be intercontinental air missiles to get leverage on Snowden & Refugees cases
Denontie secrete contro chi occcvultera […]
Venice’s prosecutors : Mouth of the lion
Steffen Arora writes in Der Standard Media, an austrian paper, abouth those cases.
Manfred Nowak hints about international pressure on HK instead of self-initiated abuse by HK ?
Canada delayed refugee claims by this family.
Q&A
Q: What are US & China implications on this ?
A: China is the main firearms supplier to Sri Lanka. China is ethnocentric, HK isn’t a multicultural society. The narrative of HK/China on refugees is usually that there’s no such thing as a refugee. Tibbo thinks US is pressuring both China/HK and Canada.
Q: Are you surprised of those crushing efforts ?
A: This whole conduct was a surprise at the beginning. Quite clearly, HK has no business listening to its own society.
Q: Do you think there’s a connection with the [??] case.
A: This case is just a fragment of the puzzle of racism and discrimination in HK.
Q: Was there any attempts by fellows barristers to make claims or give support ?
A: Absolutely not, except for the one who warned me at the annual council.
Vanessa comes live on a videoconference program
Tibbo : Is there anything you’d like to say ?
V : Thank you for supporting us. Us as clients never issued complaints about Tibbo as an attorney. Justin Trudeau talks about helping refugees, why is he ignoring or delaying decisions ? We can’t stay in HK nor get back to our original country (Sri Lanka), why doesn’t Canada step in ?
Q&A to Vanessa
Q: Is there any public support in HK for refugees, or assistance ?
A: Absolutely not, we don’t get any assistance. We can’t [leave the house?], so we can’t get assistance. I’m stuck here with my daughter. We are not safe here. It’s not easy here in HK. We hope to get extraded to Canada for safety.
Q: What would happen if you were denied asylum in Canada & refugee status in HK ?
A: If we get rejected, we can’t go back to the Philippines, maybe we will be killed. There’s no life waiting for us there.
Q: If you could go back in time and decide again [about helping snowden?], what would you do ?
A: I’d help again.