In solidarity with our colleages held in prisons in Turkey, send them your christmas greetings.
Christmas Greetings
Another wave of mass arrests Diyarbakir.
Another wave of mass arrests targeting human rights lawyers and their legitimate and professional activities occurred today in the early morning, in Diyarbakir.
The judicial scandal has to come to an end – the imprisoned lawyers must be released
On November 11, the ÇHD I criminal case, which started in 2013, will continue at the 1st instance, before the 18th Heavy Penal Court in Istanbul. The victims of this long lasting trial are the accused 22 lawyers, all members of the Turkish Lawyers’ Organization ÇHD (Progressive Lawyers of Turkey) and all working in one of the two offices of the People’s Law Office. At the opening of the trial, 9 of the accused had already served 11 months in pre-trial detention. However, in order not to put a disproportionate burden on the defendants, the court released the last defendants from pre-trial detention 14 months after their arrest in January 2013.
The trial could have ended long ago if the prosecution had not initiated a second criminal case (ÇHD II trial) in 2018, with the approval of the 37th Heavy Penal Court, also against lawyers of the ÇHD and the People’s Law Office. 8 of the 20 lawyers accused in this case were also accused in the ÇHD I trial. In both proceedings, the defendants are accused of supporting, being members of, or directing a terrorist organization, on the same evidence. In September 2017, pre-trial detention was ordered for the defendants. One year later, the proceedings were opened. After the first week of hearings, the court ordered the release of all defendants from pre-trial detention. After an appeal by the public prosecutor’s office, 13 lawyers were again remanded in custody.
What the 18th Criminal Chamber failed to achieve in 4 years, the 37th Heavy Penal Court achieved in half a year after the opening of the proceedings. The accused were sentenced to prison terms between 2 and over 18 years. The sentences were largely confirmed in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
The public prosecutor’s office and the 37th Heavy Penal Court were aware of the proceedings pending before the 18th Criminal Chamber when the new proceedings were opened. They were also aware that 8 defendants in the ÇHD II trial had already been charged in the ÇHD I trial. They likewise knew that the principle “ne bis in idem” prohibits sentencing defendants twice for the same crime. The prosecutors and the 37th Heavy Penal Court must answer as to why they interfered in the current ÇHD I trial by opening a second trial. The convictions by the 37 Heavy Penal Court prevent the 18th Heavy Penal Court from pronouncing sentences on identical defendants. The 18th Heavy Penal Court is therefore also prevented from pronouncing lesser sentences, stopping the proceedings against the accused, or acquitting the accused. This situation currently affects the following defendants: Att. Selçuk Kozağaçlı , Att. Barkin Timtik, Att. Oya Aslan and Att.Günay Dag.
The Commission of Inquiry conducted in October 2019 by 23 lawyers’ organizations and bar associations from all over the world in Istanbul pointed out violations of the `principles of fair trial in the two ÇHD trials in its analysis and report “Fact-finding mission on CHD’s trials, Breach of Fair Trial, Independence of the Judiciary and Principles, on the Role of Lawyers, October 2019, Istanbul”
One of the lawyers accused in both trials, Att. Ebru Timtik, paid with her life for her struggle for fair trials. She went on hunger strike. The court refused to release her temporarily from detention in order to recover from the consequences of the hunger strike. Her colleague Att. Aytac Ünsal, who also went on hunger strike, only survived because the Court of Appeal, aware of the worldwide protests following the death of Ebru Timtik, did not want to be responsible for another victim of its intransigence.
If the 18th Heavy Penal Court is to avoid further damage to the reputation of the Turkish judiciary, the only option left to it is to acquit the accused, or to close the case.
Supported by
▪ European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH)
▪ Avocats Européens Démocrates (AED-EDL)
▪ International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) representative at the UN Vienna
▪ Confederation of Lawyers of Asia and the Pacific (COLAP)
▪ Asociación Americana de Juristas (AAJ)
▪ Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE)
▪ L’ORDRE DES BARREAUX FRANCOPHONES ET GERMANOPHONE DE BELGIQUE, (AVOCATS.BE)
▪ Ordre des avocats de Paris
▪ Lawyers for Lawyers
▪ Associazione Nazionale Giuristi Democratici (Italy)
▪ Défense sans frontière – Avocats solidaires (DSF–AS)
▪ Democratic Lawyers Association of Bangladesh (DLAB)
▪ Dutch League for Human Rights
▪ Foundation Day of the Endangered Lawyer
Another lawyer from Turkey has been arrested! Free Seda Saraldı
LAWYERS’ ASSOCIATIONS PROTEST ARREST OF TURKISH LAWYER SEDA SARALDI
We, the undersigned international lawyers’ associations, have for many years condemned the Turkish government’s systematic attacks on lawyers and bar associations for representing people allegedly opposed to government policies.
Ten lawyers from the Peoples’ Law Office and other members of the Progressive Lawyers Association have been in prison for more than three years. Eighteen lawyers from the Progressive Lawyers Association were sentenced to a total of 159 years and 2 months imprisonment following an unjust trial. Their right to defense and right to a fair trial were violated from the beginning to the end. The Turkish Supreme Court recently affirmed the unlawful convictions for fifteen of the accused lawyers.
During their incarceration, lawyers Ebru Timtik and Aytac Ünsal mounted a hunger strike to protest the unlawfulness of their convictions and demanded a fair trial for themselves and for every other person arrested. Tragically, Ebru Timtik died on the 238th of the day of her hunger strike.
Seda Saraldi, another lawyer who is a member of Progressive Lawyers Association and worked in the Peoples` Law Office as the intern of Ebru Timtik, was detained on 28 October, together with 101 clients of her office. Saraldi was arrested at her family’s home at midnight. According to her defense lawyers, the police broke the door of the house and Saraldi was subjected to violence during her arrest.
After finishing her internship, Saraldi began working as an attorney in the Peoples` Law Office. She was one of the lawyers campaigning for the freedom of Ebru Timtik and Aytac Ünsal. During the one year she has practiced law, Saraldi has represented hundreds of vulnerable people, including the imprisoned lawyers.
The Turkish government does not follow its domestic law, and it also systematically violates the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers (known as the Havana Principles). Under these principles,
“Governments shall ensure that lawyers are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.” In addition, “Where the security of lawyers is threatened as a result of discharging their functions, they shall be adequately safeguarded by the authorities.” But it is the Turkish government that is threatening the security of these lawyers for discharging their functions. And, the principles provide, “Lawyers shall not be identified with their clients or their clients’ causes as a result of discharging their functions.”
Governments are obliged to remove the obstacles to the professional activity of lawyers and they should prevent any kind of harrasment or unlawful interference against lawyers. However, in Turkey the harrasment of the legal profession has become the policy of the government itself.
We demand again that the Turkish government live up to its obligations under the law. We also demand the immediate release of Seda Saraldi and all the other detained lawyers. Turkey must stop harrasing lawyers and bar associations who are on the front lines of providing the right to defense.
International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL)
European Democratic Lawyers (EDL – AED)
European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights (ELDH)
AED/EDL IN SUPPORT OF THE SPANISH LAWYERS ISABEL ELBAL AND GONZALO BOYE
AED/EDL would like to proclaim its support for our colleagues, the Spanish lawyers Gonzalo Boye and Isabel Elbal, concerning the suspicious attacks they have suffered in their offices, which have been burglarized twice in 9 months, stating the following:
1.- First and foremost, we must recall that lawyers should not be identified with their clients, or with the causes they defend, since such confusion is detrimental to the independence and dignity of lawyers and the whole legal profession, and ultimately affects the right of defense itself as a fundamental right.
This circumstance was already acknowledged in The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, approved at the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, held in Havana (Cuba), from the 27th of August to the 7th of September 1990, which establishes in its guarantee n° 18 that “Lawyers will not be identified with their clients or with the causes of their clients as a consequence of the performance of their duties”. Furthermore Resolution 26/7 (10th july 2014) of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC- A/HRC/RES/26/7) (2) provides in its point n° 104 that “It must be prohibited to assimilate lawyers and their clients or their causes and to express anticipation for the adoption of measures aimed at preventing such assimilation“.
2.- Regardless of the foregoing, we express our most outright rejection of all the intimidating, threatening or humiliating messages that lawyers have been receiving in recent times due to their practice of the legal profession, and specifically in the case of our colleagues because of their work as defense lawyers of clients linked to the so-called Catalonian “procés”. Likewise, we strongly reject such illegitimate attacks, and show our solidarity and support to the recipients.
3.- We reiterate the need for legal professionals, and specifically lawyers, to be able to develop their constitutional function with the most absolute freedom and autonomy, without which, it is impossible to speak of the rule of law and of the existence of fair trials without discrimination.
Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Brussels, Amsterdam
3rd of October 2020
Open statement in connection with the detention of Belarusian lawyers Ilya Salei and Maksim Znak
September 10, 2020
We express our deep concern at the detention of lawyers Ilya Salei and Maksim Znak on September 9, 2020, in Belarus, in a criminal case which is undeniably politically motivated. We consider this to be a gross violation and interference with their professional legal activities and with their rights to express professional opinions, as established by international legal standards. This case is a direct consequence of a dire situation, problems and violations of professional rights of attorneys and lawyers and overall functioning of the legal profession in the Republic of Belarus. These problems were highlighted by both international organizations and representatives of the legal community before.[1]
According to information posted on the website of the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus, “the investigation of the criminal case opened by the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Belarus under Part 3 of Art. 361 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. At the moment, in the course of the investigation, evidence has been obtained that testify to the commission by individuals of a non-governmental organization called the Coordination Council, actions aimed at destabilizing the socio-political, economic situation and public awareness in the country, causing harm to the national security of the Republic of Belarus. These actions were carried out using the media and internet resources. With regard to the suspects Maria Kolesnikova and Maksim Znak, with the approval of the prosecutor, a preventive measure was chosen in the form of detention. Ilya Salei was also detained on suspicion of committing this crime.”[2]
However, detained Ilya Salei is a lawyer of Maria Kolesnikova, one of the leaders of the Belarusian protest movement and a member of the Presidium of the Coordination Council, who is also in jail.[3] Second detained lawyer Maksim Znak was representing Viktor Babariko, who ran for the President of the Republic of Belarus, but was not allowed to register as a candidate and was recognized as a political prisoner. Maksim Znak was also an attorney for the former presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, on whose behalf he created the Coordination Council. As a member of the Presidium of the Coordinating Council, Maxim Znak was providing legal assistance as an attorney. Maxim Znak’s lawyer Dmitry Laevsky notes: “all his statements, appeals, comments were public, transparent, their content was absolutely legal and did not carry any illegal intentions.”[4]
We would like to emphasize that, in accordance with the United Nation’s Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers[5], governments must ensure that lawyers can perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment, or improper interference. Lawyers, like other citizens, are entitled to freedom of expression, belief, association and assembly. In particular, they have the right to take part in public discussion of matters concerning the law, the administration of justice and the promotion and protection of human rights, and to join or form local, national or international organizations and attend their meetings, without suffering professional restrictions by reason of their lawful actions or their membership in a lawful organization.
The Belarusian Helsinki Committee appealed to the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers with a report about the situation of lawyers Maksim Znak and Ilya Salei.[6] The report called for urgent action to be taken in connection with the detention of the lawyers and requested to send an urgent message to the Government of Belarus on the need to comply with the Basic Principles concerning the role of lawyers.
Belarusian lawyers and jurists have made an open statement in connection with the detention of their colleagues.[7]
We also demand from the authorities of the Republic of Belarus to:
– immediately release lawyers Maksim Znak and Ilya Salei and comply with international legal standards of the independence of legal profession and the exercise of the right to defense;
– stop the persecution of lawyers and attorneys who are exercising their constitutional right of free expression by expressing their opinions[8] while performing professional functions;
– strictly observe the provisions of Art. 62 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus: “everyone has the right to exercise and protect rights and freedoms, including the right to use at any time the assistance of lawyers and their other representatives in court, other state bodies, local government bodies, at enterprises, institutions, organizations, public associations and in relations with officials and citizens. Opposition to the provision of legal assistance in the Republic of Belarus is prohibited by law.”[9]
Download in English and Russian
Signatories:
- Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Poland
- ARTICLE 19, United Kingdom
- The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe
- The Bar Association of Luxembourg
- The Swedish Bar Association
- The French and German speaking bars association of Belgium AVOCATS.BE
- The European Association of Lawyers AEA-EAL
- Lawyers for Lawyers, The Netherlands
- FIDH – International Federation for Human Rights
- Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights YUCOM, Serbia
- OMCT World Organisation Against Torture
- Human Rights House Foundation, Norway
- Centre de la protection internationale, France
- Human Rights Monitoring Institute, Lithuania
- International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), Belgium
- The Norwegian Helsinki Committee
- Freedom Now, USA
- Crude Accountability, USA
- All-Ukrainian Association of Lawyers Providing Free Legal Aid – Odesa Division, Ukraine
- Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights, Russia
- Pskov Regional Human Rights Environmental Public Movement “Svobodnyi Bereg”, Russia
- Kharkiv Regional Foundation Public Alternative, Ukraine
- German-Russian Exchange in St. Petersburg
- Stichting CAAT Projects, The Netherlands
- MEMORIAL Deutschland e. V. Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte, Germany
- Legal Policy Research Center, Kazakhstan
- Public Association Dignity, Kazakhstan
- Human Rights Movement “Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan”
- Belarusian Helsinki Committee
- Human Constanta, Belarus
- Center for Participation and Development, Georgia
- Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly – Vanadzor, Armenia
- Association of Ukrainian Human Rights Monitors on Law Enforcement, Ukraine
- SOVA Center for Information and Analysis, Russia
- Souchastiye v Sud’be, Blagotvoritel’nyy Tsentr, Russia
- Human Rights Embassy, Moldova
- Libereco Partnership for Human Rights, Germany
- Public Verdict Foundation, Russia
- Human Rights Group “Grazhdanin, armia, pravo”, Russia
- DRA – German-Russian Exchange, Germany
- Social Action Centre, Ukraine
- Helsinki Committee of Armenia
- Helsinki association, Armenia
- Macedonian Helsinki Committee
- Swedish OSCE-network
- Albanian Helsinki Committee
- Bulgarian Helsinki Committee
- Women of the Don, Russia
- Moscow Helsinki Group, Russia
- Human Rights House Zagreb, Croatia
- Human Rights Center, Georgia
- Mogilev Human Rights Center, Belarus
- Netherlands Helsinki Committee
- Human Rights Center ZMINA, Ukraine
- The Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House
- “Ekumena” Center, Belarus
- Youth Memorial – Perm, Russia
- Human Rights House in Chernihiv, Ukraine
- The Georgian Centre for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims
- Östgruppen – Swedish initiative for democracy and human rights, Sweden
- IDP Women Association Consent, Georgia
- Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law, Kazakhstan
- Czech Bar Association, The Czech Republic (tbc)
- Civil Initiative Against Lawlessness in Courts and Prosecutor’s Office, Belarus
- AED-EDL (Avocat.e.s Européennes Démocrates / European Democratic Lawyers), Barcelona, Spain
- Freedom House, USA
- Independent Social Ecological Movement – NESEHNUTI, Brno, The Czech Republic
- Stichting CAAT Projects, the Netherlands
- La Asociación Libre de Abogados, Spain
- RAW for Women and Girl Survivors of War (Raw in War)
- Citizens Network Watchdog, Poland
- ORDRE DES AVOCATS DE PARIS / Paris Bar, France
- The Сouncil of the Warsaw Bar Association of Advocates, Poland
- Russian LGBT Network
- Board of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum
- Freedom of Religion and Believe – FORB, Belarus
- Human Rights Center Memorial, Russia
[1] See https://www.hfhr.pl/en/report-on-the-situation-of-legal-profession-in-belarus/ https://probusiness.io/law/7462-kogda-slesari-bastuyut-advokatam-stydno-molchat-obrashchenie-advokatskogo-soobshchestva-belarusi.html, https://fondadvokatov.ru/belarus
[2] See https://sk.gov.by/ru/news-ru/view/sledstvennym-komitetom-prodolzhaetsja-rassledovanie-ugolovnogo-dela-o-publichnyx-prizyvax-k-dejstvijam-9248/
[3] Coordination Council – public initiative, created with the goal of overcoming political crisis in Belarus and ensuring peace and understanding, and also for protection of sovereignty and independence of the republic of Belarus. More information about the Council please see https://rada.vision/en
[4] See https://news.tut.by/economics/699898.html
[5] Adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Havana, Cuba, 27 August to 7 September 1990, see https://www.un.org/ru/documents/decl_conv/conventions/role_lawyers.shtml
[6] See https://belhelcom.org/be/node/1244
[7] https://news.tut.by/economics/699922.html
[8] Article 33 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus https://kodeksy-by.com/konstitutsiya_rb/33.htm
Always in our hearts
Madrid, demonstration for Ebru Timtik
Barcelona, demonstration in front of the Turkish Consulate
OBITUARY – Ebru Timtik will always be in our minds and hearts!
Ebru passed away yesterday after 238 days on Hunger Strike. She fought until her last breath for the right to a fair trial and independence of lawyers. The Turkish State is responsible because it ignored her claims.
Last October we visited her and the other colleagues of the ÇHD in Silivri hight security prison (near Istanbul) with an International Delegation of lawyers, we spoke with her about her determination to continue denouncing all forms of injustice.
We know that the right to a fair trial has been violated in the so called ÇHD2 Case. We have seen, observing the trial, that the Court was unfair. The lawsuit was a masquerade (not enforcing procedural rules, nonsense statements of a secret witness were the base of the decision, and the verdict was given before the right of defence was exercised). The international delegation of Lawyers, in which AED-EDL and the Foundation Day of Endangered Lawyer participated monitoring the trial, has been expulsed from the Courtroom before the last statement was given by the defence lawyers and before the final decision.
The denying of the demand Ebru made for a fair trial made her choose the way of a hunger strike. This hunger strike was not meant as a special request for herself but for the whole profession of lawyers and for the Kurdish and Turkish people. When her situation was already very grave on the 14th of August a request to release Ebru and her colleague Aytaç Unsal was denied by the Constitutional Court of Turkey.
Everyone has to know that the death of Ebru could have been prevented. For all of us, her death will be remembered as a shame for the Turkish Judiciary.
The lesson we can obtain of Ebru’s death is that we must be more conscious to fight for fundamental Rights in Turkey and other Countries. Her action will help and motivate us to defend the right to a fair trial.
Ebru, your life was brilliant, your death is very sad, and your example is a light in this time of troubles in Turkey!
Rest in peace, our sister.
28.08.2020
Fact-Finding Mission on CHD Trials in Turkey
Breach of a fair trial, independence of the judiciary and principles on the role of Lawyers.
October 2019, Istanbul
A group of 15 lawyers from 7 European countries met in Istanbul from 13 till 15 October 2019 for a fact-finding mission to clarify the legal circumstances that led to the conviction of the following 18 Turkish lawyers by the 37 High Criminal Court of Istanbul in March 2019:
– For “founding and leading a terrorist organization” – Barkin TIMTIK: 18 years and 9 months For “membership of a terrorist organization” – Ebru TIMTIK and Özgür YILMAZ: 13 years and 6 months – Behiç ASÇI and Sükriye ERDEN: 12 years – Selçuk KOZAGACLI (President of the ÇHD) : 11 years and 3 months – Engin GÖKOGLU, Aytac ÜNSAL and Süleyman GÖKTEN : 10 years and 6 months – Aycan ÇIÇEK and Naciye DEMIR: 9 years – Ezgi CAKIR: 8 years
– For “willfully and knowingly aiding a terrorist organization” – Aysegül CAGATAY, Yagmur EREREN, Didem Baydar ÜNSAL and Yaprak TÜRKMEN: 3 years 9 months – Zehra ÖZDEMIR and Ahmet MANDACI: 3 years, 1 month and 15 days (sentence reduced because of their presence at the hearing on 20 March 2019, unlike the other defendants).
The European lawyers of the monitoring team came from Austria, Belgium, Catalonia/Spain, Greece, Germany, France, and Italy. They represented, among others, two international associations of lawyers, two European lawyers’ organizations, the European umbrella association of bar associations, various national and regional bar associations and lawyers’ organizations.
These are their findings: REPORT
The lawyers of the monitoring team represented the following organizations:
- ELDH – European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights
- AED-EDL – European Democratic Lawyers
- The foundation The Day of the Endangered Lawyer
- IADL – International Association of Democratic Lawyers
- Progress Lawyers Network
- Giuristi Democratici
- CCBE The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe
- CNB – French National Bar Council (Conseil national des barreaux)
- OIAD – Observatoire International des Avocats en Danger (The International Observatory
of Endangered Lawyers) - UCPI – Unione delle Camere Penali Italiane
- Consiglio Nazionale Forense (Italian National Bar Association)
- DSF AS – Défense Sans frontière – Avocats Solidaires
- UIA International Association of Lawyers
- OBFG/Avocats.be (Association of French speaking Bars of Belgium)
- Paris Bar Association
- Athens Bar Association
- Barcelona Bar Association
- Berlin Bar Association
- Brussels (French-speaking) Bar Association
- Brussels (Dutch-speaking) Bar Association (NOAB)
- Liège Bar Association
- Vienna Bar Association
Covid-19 – No time to lose ! – Why imprisoned lawyers must be released immediately
The European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH) and the European Democratic Lawyers (AED-EDL) are European lawyers’ organisations with members in over 20 European countries, including Turkey. Both organisations have been monitoring court cases in Turkey for many years, especially the mass trials against lawyers of their two member organisations ÇHD – Çagdas Hukukular Dernegi – (Progressive Lawyers Association) and ÖHD – Ozgurlukcu Hukukcular Dernegi – OHD (Association of Lawyers for Freedom). The foundation The Day of the Endangered Lawyer’s goal is to promote the unobstructed practice of the lawyers’ profession anywhere in the world who, under repressive regimes come to the defence or support of clients whose human rights are at stake.
Currently, 7 lawyers of the CHD are detained (Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Behiç Aşçı, Engin Gökoğlu, Aytaç Ünsal, Aycan Çiçek, Barkın Timtik, Oya Aslan, Ebru Timtik; Sulçuk Kozağaçlı is the ÇHD President, a human rights attorney who received several Human Rights Awards. and Doğukan Ünlü, Halil İbrahim Vargül, Semra Özbingöl Çelik are lawyers of the ÖHD.
The worldwide spread of the C-19 epidemic does not stop at the prison gates. On the contrary, the overcrowding of prisons increases the risk of proliferation among prisoners and staff. The Turkish government has therefore rightly decided to release almost a third of the more than 300,000 prisoners from prison or place them under house arrest. However, those accused of supporting, being a member of or leading a terrorist organization are excluded from this measure. This decision also affects lawyers who, in the exercise of their professional duties, have represented alleged terror supporters in court.
The lawyers began a hunger strike on Feb. 3 in protest of the lengthy jail sentences imposed on them for terrorism charges and after the 30th day of the hunger strike, 4 of them announced a break. Presently 4 lawyers (Ebru Timtik, Barkın Timtik, Oya Aslan, Aytaç Ünsal), who are all members of the Progressive Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD), are on a hunger strike in prison, demanding a fair trial and justice for themselves and for their clients. All the lawyers were arrested in a September 2018 operation. Two of the lawyers have announced to start fasting to death on the 5th of April, that is the Day of Lawyers in Turkey.
Lawyers around the world and human rights representatives of international organisations have repeatedly appealed to the all governments to release prisoners as far as possible.
- The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged governments and relevant authorities to work quickly to reduce the number of people in detention.
- 32 Turkish bar associations demanded on 19 March 2020 that the Turkish government takes appropriate measures to protect the lives of the detainees from the spreading C-19 epidemic and to release them. The bar associations explicitly mentioned lawyers who have been imprisoned for political reasons.
- Last week, more than 70 lawyers from all over the world followed the call of the International Association of Democratic Lawyer (IADL), of the two European Lawyers Associations ELDH, AED-EDL, and of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers (England) for a video conference in solidarity with lawyers imprisoned for political reasons in Turkey, with interventions from Ayşe Bingöl of the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project, Barbara Spinelli of Giuristi Democratici, and Şerife Ceren Uysal, of the Progressive Lawyers Alliance (ÇHD). The lawyers unanimously called for the immediate release of the lawyers detained in Turkey.
The Turkish Government should bear in mind:
- Although the official number of victims of C-19 in Turkey is still relatively low, Turkey is the country with the fastest increase in the number of victims.
- The lives of the imprisoned lawyers, including 8 lawyers of the ÇHD and 3 lawyers of the ÖHD, are acutely endangered by the spreading C-19 Pandemic and the prison conditions in Turkey.
- Because of Ebru Timtik’s hunger strike against unjustified conviction, which has already lasted 90 days for (over 60 days for 3 of them) , her organism is weakened and the risk of death in case of infection is significantly increased. This also applies to the other 2 lawyers who have announced to start the fasting to death on April 5, 2020
- Many observers of the trials against ÇHD and ÖHD lawyers came to the conclusion that the accusations lack any factual basis and were based on incorrect assessment of the evidence. They expressed severe doubts concerning compliance with the fair trial standards of the ECHR and the independence of the tribunals.
- Even the competent Turkish court, initially had no reservations about releasing the defendants from custody during the ongoing proceedings. They were released. Only after a questionable exchange of judges was detention ordered again. There is therefore no justification for endangering the lives of the lawyers by the increased risk to them in detention.
- The lawyers concerned have not yet been finally convicted. They have all appealed against their conviction. As long as the proceedings continue, they must not be treated as if their guilt had been finally adjudicated.
Under these circumstances, the immediate release of the detained lawyers is the imperative for the government if it is not to be responsible for serious damage to the health or even death of the detainees.
———-