September 1, 2019
As 2019 Judicial Year starts on 1st of September tomorrow in Turkey. The Arrested Lawyers Initiative published a new report named Mass Prosecution of Lawyers in Turkey.
According to report, since 2016’s coup attempt, there has been a relentless campaign of arrests which has targeted fellow lawyers across the country. In 77 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, lawyers have been detained, prosecuted and convicted due to alleged terror-linked offenses. As of 1 September 2019, more than 1500 lawyers have been prosecuted and 599 lawyers arrested. So far, 321 lawyers have been sentenced to 2022 years in prison on the grounds of membership of an armed terrorism organization or of spreading terrorist propaganda.
Report also shows, 14 of the persecuted lawyers are presidents (or former presidents) of their respective provincial bar associations, for example; President of the Konya Bar Association, Fevzi Kayacan, President of the Trabzon Bar Association, Orhan Öngöz, President of the Siirt Bar Association, Cemal Acar, President of the Gumushane Bar Association, Ismail Tastan were arrested and unlawfully unseated. Furthermore, the presidents of the Aksaray and Kahramanmaras Bar Associations, Levent Bozkurt and Vahit Bagci, respectively, and the former presidents of the Yozgat Bar Association, Haci Ibis and Fahri Acikgoz, were detained for a certain time before they were released on bail.
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New Report: Mass Prosecution of Lawyers in Turkey
https://ahvalnews.com/arrested-lawyers/turkey-has-sentenced-321-lawyers-2000-years-jail-2016-report
Turkey has prosecuted some 1,500 lawyers, arrested 599 since failed coup: report
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/10/turkey-mass-prosecution-lawyers
https://www.hrw.org/fr/news/2019/04/10/turquie-poursuites-judiciaires-massives-contre-des-avocats (FRANCAIS)
Tagged: Arrested Lawyers, Human Rights Watch, Turkey
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