More than 1600 lawyers have been arrested in Turkey since 2016's coup attempt

The Arrested Lawyers Initiative published the fifth edition of its report named ‘Mass Prosecution of Lawyers in Turkey‘.

According to the latest version of the report, since 2016’s coup attempt more than 1600 lawyers have been arrested and prosecuted while 615 lawyers have been remanded to pretrial detention. So far, 450 lawyers have been sentenced to a total of 2786 years in prison on the grounds of membership of an armed terrorism organization or of spreading terrorist propaganda. 

15 of the persecuted lawyers are presidents (or former presidents) of their respective provincial bar associations.

Report presents that all of the persecuted lawyers are being charged with terror-linked offenses; the two main accusations imputed to them are membership of an armed terrorist organisation, and forming and leading an armed terrorist organisation.

Lawyers have particularly been targeted due to the identity or affinity of their clients. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reports that the OHCHR has observed a pattern concerning the persecution of lawyers representing individuals who areaccused of terrorism offences, where they are associated with their clients’ political views (oralleged political views) in the discharge of their professional duties and are consequently prosecuted for the same, or other related offences of which their clients are being accused. (source: https://arrestedlawyers.org/ / photo: pixabay)

The full report is available here

Comments

Post a Comment

Top Stories

Ombudsman inquiry on Commission President’s text messages is a wake-up call for EU

Image
The European Ombudsman inquiry into the Commission’s handling of a request for text messages between its President and the CEO of a pharmaceutical company is a wake-up call for all EU institutions about ensuring accountability in an era of instant messaging. One year after the initial request by a journalist, the Commission has still not clarified whether messages reported to concern major vaccine procurement deals exist and whether the public is entitled to see them. The Ombudsman had asked the Commission, in a finding of maladministration in January, to conduct a more thorough search for the text messages. The Commission’s recent response failed to say whether it had looked directly and correctly for the text messages and if not, why not. While the response recognised that work-related text messages can be EU documents, it reiterated that the Commission’s internal policy is, in effect, not to register text messages. The Ombudsman has closed  the inquiry  and upheld...
Read more

Following the tragic death of lawyer Ebru Timtik, the CCBE calls on the EU and Turkish authorities to take urgent measures to prevent the death of lawyer Aytaç Ünsal

Image
The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) is deeply shocked by the death of Turkish lawyer Ebru Timtik on 27 August after a 238 days hunger strike. Lawyers Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal, respectively sentenced to 13 and 6 months and 11 years and 6 months in prison, decided to go on an unlimited hunger strike to denounce their unfair trial as well as the unfair trial of several dozens of Turkish lawyers. ( Read more here ) Since 2017, several Turkish lawyers belonging to the Progressive Lawyers Association and the People's Law Office, among which Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal, have been victims of judicial harassment. These lawyers who have fought for Justice and the Rule of Law have defended, among others, persons considered to be opponents of the Turkish government, families of miners massacred in Soma and Ermenek, populations expelled from their homes as victims of urban transformation, families of citizens killed under torture in police stations and prisons as well as...
Read more

PhD position in Law, Technology and the Human body

Image
Erasmus University Rotterdam School of Law, department Law & Markets, is looking for a fulltime PhD researcher in Law, technology and the human body (5 years with 20% teaching tasks). Job description The selected candidate will be embedded within the Law & Markets department, home of a vibrant and diverse academic community. The overarching mission of the Department Law & Markets is to develop and deliver cutting-edge, high-quality research and teaching on legal institutions shaping markets and their implications for socio-economic justice and sustainability. The research group specifically studies legal and societal problems generated in the complex dynamics of international, European and domestic laws regulating technology, trade, industry, investment, money, and more generally markets. The focus is on how to make the law in any form socially, environmentally and financially sustainable, how to deal with technological innovation on an inclusive basis and how to combine p...
Read more

Arrest of 48 lawyers, 7 trainee lawyers, 4 purged judges and a law graduate, for being “members of a terrorist organisation” in Turkey: Joint Statement

Image
Through the new “alternative bar associations” legislation and President Erdogan’s own words “Those who act as the lawyers of terrorists may not act like terrorists themselves. If they do so, there must be a price to pay”, which he said in the presence of judges and prosecutors in the new judicial year opening ceremony, the Turkish government had already signaled that a new phase in the persecution of lawyers was about to start. Only a few days after President Erdogan’s speech, today (11 September 2020), the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor has ordered the arrest of 48 lawyers, 7 trainee lawyers, 4 purged judges and a law graduate, for being “members of a terrorist organisation” According to the report of the state-run Anatolian News Agency, their arrests were sought for no other offence than representing those whom the government considered dissidents and who were accused of being involved in “terrorism”. The arrested lawyers were not to be allowed a conference with anybody and woul...
Read more

Money laundering scandals of high profile European banks during the first half of 2020

Image
By Christina Poursanidou, Lawyer /  Legal and Compliance Officer  During 2019, the total number of fines imposed globally for violation of money laundering regulations was estimated to €370 million. Strangely enough, such fines did not worry bank CEOs and boards, which instead of improving their anti-money laundering (AML) procedures, keep on operating with insufficient due diligence standards, improper management of AML measures and   poor transaction monitoring. The result?   €600 million in AML monetary penalties within the first six months of 2020. Within the context of the European Union, during 2020 National Financial Supervisors have imposed heavy fines to a number of credit institutions, such as Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB , known as SEB   (€125 million), Deutsche Bank (€13.5 million), Commerzbank (€41 million) and Swedbank (€320 Million). These money laundering cases involving high-profile EU financial institutions have highlighted that the E...
Read more