Panelists at the TrialWatch launch event at Columbia Law School discuss the project. Pictured from left to right are Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, George Clooney, Amal Clooney and Microsoft President Brad Smith. Photo: Beatrice Moritz

Amal and George Clooney's TrialWatch global initiative, launched in New York in April, and the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights are calling for the release of many defendants convicted at a recent mass trial in Equatorial Guinea that focused on an alleged coup d'état and a presidential assassination attempt.

The two groups, which are partners under the umbrella of TrialWatch, say that many defendants were convicted without it being proved that they were connected to the alleged Equatorial Guinea government coup in 2017. (No exact number was given.)

In addition, the groups say that other defendants among the 112 convicted at a single trial in March should have their sentences reviewed by Equatoguinean authorities and, in turn, authorities should either commence proceedings that respect due process or release the defendants.

TrialWatch and the ABA say that sentences imposed on the 112 convicted people range from three to 97 years. Twenty defendants were given more than 70 years in prison, they say.

“From the outset, the trial was marred by egregious procedural irregularities, including the [Equatoguinean] President [Obiang Nguema Mbasogo]'s appointment of military judges and prosecutors by executive decree, and violated fair trial guarantees that are part of every state's obligations under international human rights law,” states a preliminary report on the trial prepared for the ABA and TrialWatch by Juan Mendez, former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and member of the Clooney Foundation for Justice's TrialWatch Expert Panel.

The report was hyperlinked in a news release issued by the Clooney Foundation for Justice last Thursday. It described trial violations and called for justice.

The trial, which handled the prosecutions of about 130 defendants, is among the first trials to be monitored and reported on by TrialWatch, according to spokeswoman Kylie McKenna.

The initiative, Amal Clooney's brainchild, seeks to scrutinize controversial criminal trials worldwide and publicize court-based instances of corruption and human rights violations while applying public pressure to governments, judges, officials and businesses that help support the abusive regimes.

The ABA's Center for Human Rights has monitored certain trials in the past for abuses and rights violations. By partnering with TrialWatch, it will be able to “expand its scope of work,” according to its website.

In April, at a TrialWatch launch event at Columbia Law School—another TrialWatch partner—Amal Clooney told a packed lecture hall that too often “we measure corruption by governments, but not courts,” even though many autocratic, authoritarian and other governments use judges and courts as a tool for silencing, abusing and scaring citizens.

Mendez, TrialWatch and the ABA relied on five TrialWatch international monitors who observed the little-publicized trial in Equatorial Guinea for information about it. The Clooney Foundation for Justice news release notes that “the number of accused and sentenced people is approximated because there were multiple inconsistencies between the prosecutor's various submissions listing the defendants and therefore is based on the monitor's notes.”