THE Eva Kaili as well as Mark Tarabella remain in custody for the “Qatargate” case, while the expulsion request against the investigating judge Michel Clez is pending, the Belgian newspaper Le Soir reports today Friday.

“Difficult blow for Eva Kaili, already detained for 10 weeks”, comments the newspaper, pointing out that the Brussels pre-trial council decided last night to extend her preventive detention, as well as for Pierre Antonio Panzeri and Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella – all three charged in the context of the investigation into alleged acts of corruption within the European Parliament.

“I really believed that he had to and was going to be releasedat least with an electronic bracelet”, said Sven Mari, the new lawyer of Mrs. Kaili, to “Soir”, after the decision of the pre-trial council. “I regret that he was not released and I still believe that is a trophy. But she is not only the vice-president of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili is also a mother. A mother who sees her 24-month-old baby twice a month. I respect that decision, but I question it and I will appeal today,” he added. He himself notes that he would have preferred if Judge Klez had been present at the pre-trial council, “for who knows the case better than he? I don’t know if the outcome would have been different, but we had a judge who had to replace him on short notice and who obviously didn’t know the case.” However, Sven Marie emphasizes that he shares the opinion of Mark Tarabella’s lawyer, regarding the excessive importance given to the “repentant” Pancheri, saying sharply: “I find that the data for the detention of my client (s.s. Evas Kailis) are based on the statements of Pancheri, who lied for two months and now with the status of the deceased, his word has become Gospel”.

As for MEP Mark Tarbella, whose request for release was rejected by the pre-trial council and is being held in custody for a month, his lawyer, Maxime Toler, said he will file an appeal today. “The request for release from prison is independent from the process of dismissal of the investigator. Even if one is not forbidden to think that the second was necessarily consequent upon the first…’ he told the press.

According to Soir, any judge can be challenged — either during an investigation or during a trial — if there is a “reasonable suspicion” of bias. The application for dispensation must be submitted in a letter containing the arguments and signed by a lawyer who has been registered with the bar for more than ten years. Maxim Toler, Mr. Tarabela’s lawyer, said that heentered this process on the morning of Thursday, February 16, before the pre-trial council, regarding the legality of the possible extension of his client’s detention.

“If the judge refuses to recuse himself, an appeal to a higher court is possible,” da criminal lawyer on condition of anonymity told Soir. In this case, Judge Cleese has two days to respond to that request “whether or not he agrees to the request to recuse himself,” the court code says. If he refuses to resign, Mark Tarabella’s defense can, within three days, appeal to the Court of Appeals, which in turn will decide within eight days.