Turkey: Detention of Doğan lawyer ‘intimidation’

January 6, 2017

The detention of the Doğan Group’s chief judicial adviser, along with a former chief executive officer of the holding, is an act of intimidation by the political power, the Istanbul Bar Association said in a written statement on Jan. 6.

“This detention is an intimidation,” it said, adding that the government was seeking to create its own narrative during the current period.

“In this context, we should mention not only a lawyer’s detention … but also openly [an attack] on the freedom of the press,” read the statement titled ”Law Should Not Be Part of Political Strategies.”

It noted that detained adviser Erem Turgut Yücel had been turned into a suspect in a case that he had been following as a lawyer.

Yücel and former Doğan Group CEO Yahya Üzdiyen were detained at 6 a.m. on Jan. 5 as police searched their houses and offices.

No bar association representatives were present during the searches, the bar said.

It said a decree law under the ongoing state of emergency had lifted an article stipulating that a prosecutor be present during such searches but retained an article stipulating that a representative of the bar be present.

“Thus, such searches are openly against the law,” the statement read.

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http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/detention-of-dogan-lawyer-intimidation-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=108253&NewsCatID=509

http://www.idhae.org/observatoire-fr-page4.1.tur170501.htm (FRANCAIS)

Tajikistan: Tajik Human Rights Lawyer’s Prison Term Extended

January 6, 2017

A court in Tajikistan has extended the prison term handed down to a prominent human rights lawyer.

In October, the Dushanbe City Court found Buzurgmehr Yorov guilty on charges of issuing public calls for the overthrow of the government and inciting social unrest.

He was sentenced to 23 years in prison. The court’s decision on January 6 extends his term to 26 years.

Yorov pleaded not guilty and called his trial politically motivated.

Yorov was a lawyer of 13 members and leaders of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, a group that was banned in 2015 as a terrorist organization.

Dozens of party members have been arrested.

Yorov is among at least five human rights attorneys who have been targeted by authorities in Tajikistan in connection with their work, prompting the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch and other rights groups to call for their immediate and unconditional release.

http://www.rferl.org/a/tajik-rights-lawyer-yorov-prison-extended/28217161.html