Inez Weski

Inez Natali Weski (born 10 February 1955) is a retired Dutch criminal lawyer. She has defended among others Desi Bouterse, Guus Kouwenhoven, and, during the Marengo trial, Ridouan Taghi.

Biography

Weski was born in Rotterdam, and grew up as the youngest in a large family. In the 1960s they lived in Israel for some years. She finished her studies in private and administrative law in her birthplace of Rotterdam in 1976, and worked in the Ministry of Health for two years before becoming a lawyer in 1978, working for her sister's law firm Weski Heinrici Advocaten.

She established her reputation defending controversial figures like Surinamese military officer, politician and drugs baron Desi Bouterse, weapons smuggler and war criminal Guus Kouwenhoven and Sister P., a Chinese human trafficker.

Marengo trial, prosecution and retirement

In 2019 Weski began work as the defense lawyer for Ridouan Taghi as part of the Marengo trial. Taghi is a Moroccan-Dutch criminal who became a prime suspect in at least ten murders related to organised crime, drug trafficking and leading a criminal organisation. On February 27, 2024, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In October 2019 Weski stopped working for Taghi, and she insisted this was done with his support and not due to any fear of him. However after his arrest in Dubai in December 2019 and return to the Netherlands and imprisonment in a maximum security facility in Vught, she once again took on his defense. Those who knew her believed she was being coerced by Taghi, and there were rumors she was receiving other criminal suspects from his organisation who were not her clients at her office.