Paris-Geneva,
July 21, 2023 – Over 25 lawyers, all of them members of Lawyers
for Freedom Association (Özgürlük
için Hukukçular Derneği – ÖHD),
were judicially harassed in Turkey over the past two months due to
their professional activities. The Observatory (FIDH-OMCT) denounces
this clear attempt to prevent lawyers from performing their duties
and defending human rights and calls on the authorities to guarantee
their right to carry out their legitimate activities without any
hindrance and fear of reprisals.
In
the early hours of April 25, 2023, as part of an operation involving
3500 police officers directed by the Diyarbakır Chief Public
Prosecutor's Office, a total of 191 people, including lawyers,
artists and journalists, were detained across 21 cities in Turkey,
the majority of them Kurdish cities. On the same day, the Minister of
Interior Süleyman Soylu published a video production on his
Twitter account
showing footages of police operations the dates of which are unknown,
alongside a caption stating that those detained were "financing
the terrorist organisation, acting as lawyers on behalf of the
terrorist organisation and supplying members to the organisation".
As
part of the operation, the prosecution issued detention orders
against a total of 25 lawyers, all members of the ÖHD, an
association which provides legal support to victims of human rights
violations. The lawyers’ houses and offices, as well as the
headquarters of ÖHD, were searched by the police. During the
searches, procedural safeguards were violated.
Particularly, the search orders did not contain any information about
the alleged charges, and neither a bar association representative nor
the prosecutor were present during the searches of the lawyers'
homes, as required under domestic law. In addition, a search was
conducted in the ÖHD Headquarters and the Diyarbakır Branch
offices, even though the organisation is not under investigation and
its premises are not used as a lawyers' office. Some documents
related to applications made by torture survivors for legal support
were confiscated. Another lawyer’s computer and digital equipment
used for his professional activities and containing case files of his
clients, in addition to legal documents, were confiscated, despite
objections by the lawyer and other lawyers present during the search,
who were also removed from the office by the prosecutor. The
documents were examined by the police and later returned to the
lawyer on May 6, 2023.
The
17 lawyers detained following the raids were barred from meeting with
their own lawyers for 24 hours, as per the Diyarbakır 3 Peace
Criminal Judgeship's decision. Those detained and their lawyers were
also prevented from reviewing the case file due to a confidentiality
order on the investigation decided by the same Judgeship. Lawyers'
objections to both decisions were denied without any reason, leaving
those detained not knowing what they were being charged with.
The
lawyers of the detainees were only able to meet with their clients on
April 26, 2023. The detained lawyers were charged with “membership
to an armed organisation” under Article 314/2 of the Turkish Penal
Code and were interrogated over several days by the law enforcement
and the prosecution. They were asked if they represent clients "under
the orders of the terrorist organisation" and whether "ÖHD
operates as a shadow bar association".
On
April 27, 2023, a total of 48 people were arrested, including four
ÖHD members, Özüm
Vurgun,
Burhan
Arta,
Serhat
Hezer
and Şerzan
Yelboğa.
The other detained lawyers were released under judicial control. On
May 25, 2023, the four arrested lawyers were also released under
judicial control measures.
On
May 21, 2023, Süleyman Soylu stated
that "Whenever PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party]'s lawyers are
locked up, then there will be no PKK in Turkey. They are the target.
It’s as clear as day" and that "PKK is poisoning Turkey
via lawyers." The Diyarbakır Bar Association condemned
Mr Soylu's comments criminalising and targeting the legal profession,
and underlined that this declaration constitutes a threat of a new
investigation.
On
June 9, 2023, ÖHD members Gülhan
Kaya
and Mustafa
Taylan Savran
were detained. Savran was released after two days of questioning
whereas Kaya was arrested
on June 12, 2023, under charges of “membership to an armed
organisation”. The Peace Criminal Judgeship referred
to Kaya’s meetings with her clients as part of her professional
duties in the arrest order. Other ÖHD members are also being
investigated: Kader
Tonç
was released after providing a statement to the prosecution whereas
there are detention orders against Sezin
Uçar
and Özlem
Gümüştaş,
both lawyers of the Law Office for the Oppressed (Ezilenlerin
Hukuk Bürosu – EHB).
The
Observatory underlines that these mass detentions and the Minister of
Interior’s declarations, which mainly target human rights defenders
and the legal profession, took place weeks before the May 14
parliamentary and presidential elections in Turkey, in what seems to
be an attempt to silence any dissenting voices in the country and to
influence the outcome of the elections. The most recent detentions
and arrest, which followed Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s re-election as
president and a parliamentary majority of the alliance his party is
leading, show a clear willingness to perpetuate this repressive
environment for lawyers in the country.
The
Observatory strongly denounces the abusive use of "anti-terrorism"
legislations to target human rights defenders and lawyers, and to
instrumentalise and denigrate their work, having a detrimental effect
on civic space, especially during and after a critical election
period.
The
Observatory calls on the authorities in Turkey to immediately release
Gülhan Kaya and put an end to the systematic criminalisation and
harassment of human rights defenders in the country, including
members of the ÖHD and EHB, and to ensure that they are able to
operate in a favourable environment that enables them to carry out
their legitimate activities in all circumstances, without any
hindrance and fear of reprisals.
The
Observatory further urges Turkey to abide by its obligations under
international law, and to respect internationally recognised human
rights standards, in particular the UN
Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.
Principle 16 states that lawyers should be able to perform all of
their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance,
harassment or improper interference and shall not suffer, or be
threatened with, prosecution or administrative, economic or other
sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognised
professional duties, standards and ethics.
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