Continued judicial harassment of 47 lawyers, one journalist, one legal secretary and two drivers

Provisional releases /Judicial harassment /

Arbitrary detentions

Turkey

March 20, 2014

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the InternationalFederation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture(OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention inthe following situation in Turkey.

New information:

The Observatory has beeninformed by reliable sources of the continued judicial harassment of 47lawyers, one journalist, one legal secretary and two drivers[1]and the provisional release of nine lawyers and one journalist.

According to theinformation received, on March 18, 2014, the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 1ordered the provisional release of nine lawyers, Messrs. Doğan Erbaş, İbrahimBilmez, Ömer Güneş, Cengiz Çiçek, Muharrem Şahin, EmranEmekçi, Sebahattin Kaya, Mehmet Bayraktar and Ms. HaticeKorkut and one journalist, Mr. Cengiz Kapmaz, arguing that that there was no reasonable ground to keep them indetention[2].The aforementioned had been detained since November 2011. To date, all of theaccused are free. No date was set for the following hearing.

This decision follows therecent closure of specialised heavy penal courts following a reform of theTurkish Penal Procedure Code. After the Istanbul Special Heavy Penal Court No.16 was closed, the hearing of the case was provisionally transferred to anordinary court, the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 1. Thereafter the case willbe held before the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 19.

The Observatory recalls that the lawyers havebeen involved in the legal representation of Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers'Party (PKK), and have participated inthe Kurdish Communities Union (KCK)[3]trial held before Diyarbakır Special Heavy Penal Court No. 6. During the KCKtrial, in their capacity as defence lawyers, they took stance against the banto use the Kurdish language.

The Observatory welcomes the provisional release of the above-mentioned lawyers andjournalist and thanks all the persons, institutions and organisationswho intervened in their favour. However, the Observatory regrets that severalof them were arbitrarily detained for more than two years, and remains deeplyconcerned about their ongoing judicial harassment for allegedly “passing” Abdullah Öcalan's “orders” and being membersor executives of an illegal organisation, the KCK.

TheObservatory considers this trial to amount to judicial harassment for theiractivities as human rights lawyers, and calls upon the Turkish judicialauthorities to unconditionally drop all charges.

The Observatory furtherrecalls that this trial is one of dozens of ongoing mass show trials of Kurdishintellectuals and activists in Turkey. Since 2009, over 8,000 people have beenarrested in the name of the KCK investigations – counter-terrorism operationsthat in reality have little to do with countering terrorism, but rather havebeen used as a means of criminalising peaceful dissent and Kurdish political andcultural expression.

In particular, 22 lawyersbelonging to the Progressive Lawyers Association (Cagdas Hukukçular Dernegi– ÇHD) who had been involved in the defence of the above-mentioned lawyers arealso facing terrorism charges since January 2013, five of them remain inpre-trial detention to date, namely Mr. Selçuk Kozağaçlı, ÇHD NationalPresident (Ankara Bar Association); Mr. Taylan Tanay, President of ÇHDIstanbul branch (Istanbul Bar Association); Mr. Günay Dağ, member(Istanbul Bar Association); Ms. Ebru Timtik, member (Istanbul BarAssociation) and Ms. Barkın Timtik, member (Istanbul Bar Association)[4].

Background information:

On November 22, 2011, anunprecedented broad campaign of arrest was launched and targeted dozens oflawyers from the Ağrı, Ardahan, Batman,Bursa, Diyarbakır, Denizli, Hakkari, Istanbul, Izmir, Kars, Mersin, Mus, Siirt, Sırnak, Urfa, Van Bar Associations, one journalist and three staff working for Asrin Law Firm (one legal secretary andtwo law office drivers) in the scope of an anti-terrorism operation. Several ofthe lawyers belonged to Asrin Law Firm. Theywere taken into custody in Istanbul for their alleged membership in KCK undercharges of “membership in an illegal organisation” and “directing an illegalorganisation”.

All were remanded into custody pending the endof the investigation after they had been interrogated at the Beşiktaş(Istanbul) Heavy Penal Court No. 11 and detained in İstanbul Bakırköy ClosedPrison for Females or Kocaeli Kandıra F Type Closed Prison No. 2. Some werearrested a few weeks or months after. At the beginning of the detention,communication between some of the lawyers and their families was restricted.

On April 18, 2012, the court accepted theindictment order submitted to it on April 6. 46 lawyers together with one journalist and three staff working forAsrin Law Firm were charged of “belonging to a criminal organisation”under Article 314 of the TPC.

The indictment is mostlybased on recordings of discussions held between Abdullah Öcalan and his lawyersin the visiting room of İmralı Island Prison, in violation of the principle of confidentiality between lawyer and client, which isfundamental to an effective legal defence or on evidence related to actsordinarily conducted by lawyers to defend their clients.

On July 16-17, 2012, the trial opened before the Istanbul Special Heavy Penal Court No. 16in Çağlayan Justice Palace. At the time, only 36 lawyers and the journalistremained in pre-trial detention. All other had been provisionally released. Atthe end of this hearing nine lawyers were provisionally released. Dozens ofinternational trial observers monitored the hearing, including one lawyermandated by the Observatory. Trial observers complained about the very bad materialconditions of the hearing, which impaired the right to a fair trial.

Subsequently, one-dayhearings took place on November 6, 2012, January 3, 2013 and March 27, 2013inside the Campus of the Silivri Prison, which has larger courtrooms. But, still,at some hearings, the family of the accused were denied access to the courtroomdue to the lack of space. One lawyer was provisionally released on January 3and four on March 27.

On June 20, 2013, the Istanbul Special Heavy Penal Court No. 16 held in theCampus of the Silivri Prison the fifth hearing in this long running mass trialof lawyers. The court heard several of the accused and decided to provisionallyrelease seven of them, mostly some it had heard at the previous hearing.Defence lawyers raised several irregularities in the act of indictment. Theprosecution of another lawyer, Mr. BekirKaya, was joined to this case. The Court postponed the hearing to September 17,2013.

On September 17, 2013, the Istanbul Special Heavy Penal Court No. 6 releasedseveral of the lawyers who remained in pre-trial detention.

Actions required:

Please write to the Turkishauthorities, urging them to:

i. Guarantee in allcircumstances the physical and psychological integrity of the above-mentioned47 lawyers, one journalist, one legal secretary and two drivers, as well as allhuman rights defenders in Turkey;

ii.Release Mr. Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Mr. Taylan Tanay, Mr. Günay Dağ, Ms. Ebru Timtik and Ms. BarkınTimtik immediately and unconditionally since theirdetention is arbitrary and only aims at sanctioning their human rightsactivities;

iii. Put an end to all acts harassment, including atthe judicial level, against the above-mentioned human rights defenders, as well as againstall human rights defenders in Turkey and ensure in all circumstances thatthey are able to carry out their work without unjustified hindrances;

iv. Comply with theprovisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its Article 1, which states that“everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, topromote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights andfundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, as well asArticle 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measuresto ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individuallyand in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, defacto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary actionas a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to inthe present Declaration”;

v. More generally, ensurein all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms inaccordance with international and regional human rights instruments ratified byTurkey.

Addresses:

· President of Turkey, Mr. Abdullah Gül,Cumhurbaskanligi 06100 Ankara, Turkey; Fax: +90 312 468 5026; Email: cumhurbaskanligi@tccb.gov.tr

· Prime Minister, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Officeof the Prime Minister Basbakanlik 06573 Ankara, Turkey, Fax: + 90 312 417 0476;Email: receptayyip.erdogan@basbakanlik.gov.tr

· Deputy Prime Minister Responsible for HumanRights and Counter Terrorism, Mr. Beşir Atalay, Email: besir.atalay@tbmm.gov.tr, Fax: 00 90 (312) 422 13 98

· Interior Minister, Mr. Idris Naim Şahin,06644 Ankara, Turkey; Fax: + 90 312 418 17 95 / +90 312 418 7696,

· Justice Minister, Mr. Sadullah Ergin, Ministryof Justice/ Adalet Bakanligi, 06659 Ankara, Turkey; Fax: + 90 312 414 62 26

· Foreign Minister, Mr. Ahmed Davudoglu, Office ofthe Prime Minister, Basbakanlik, 06573 Ankara, Turkey; Fax: +90 312 287 88 11

· Ambassador, Mr. Oğuz Demiralp, Permanent Missionof Turkey to the United Nations in Geneva, Ch. du Petit-Saconnex 28b - CP 271,CH-1211, Geneva 19, Switzerland, E-mail: mission.turkey@ties.itu.int, Fax: +4122 734 08 59

· Ambassador, Mr. Izzet Selim Yenel, DiplomaticMission of Turkey to the European Union in Brussels, Avenue des Arts 36-38,1000 Brussels, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 511 04 50.

***

Paris-Geneva, March 20,2014

Kindly inform us of anyaction undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory, a FIDH andOMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aimsto offer them concrete support in their time of need.

To contact the Observatory,call the emergency line:

· Email: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

·Tel et fax FIDH: + 33 1 43 55 25 18 / 33 1 43 5518 80

·Tel et fax OMCT: +41 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 4929

[1] The 47 lawyers are Mehdi ÖZTÜZÜN, Faik Özgür EROL, MuharemŞAHİN, Fuat COŞACAK, İbrahim BİLMEZ, Emran EMEKÇİ, Cengiz ÇİÇEK, DoğanERBAŞ, Hatice KORKUT, Ömer GÜNEŞ, Mehmet Sani KIZILKAYA, MehmetBAYRAKTAR, Bedri KURAN, Sabahattin KAYA, Ümit SİSLİGÜN, ErdalSAFALI, Ayşe BATUMLU KAYA, Asya ÜLKER, Nevzat ANUK, BaranPAMUK, Ergün CANAN, Nezahat PAŞA BAYRAKTAR, Meral ATASOYATAN, Fırat AYDINKAYA, Yalçın SARITAŞ, Şaziye ÖNDER, MustafaERASLAN, Mehmet Sabır TAŞ, Cemal DEMİR, Ümit SİSLİGÜN,Erdal SAFALI, Ayşe BATUMLU KAYA, Nevzat ANUK, BaranPAMUK, Ergün CANAN, Nezahat PAŞA BAYRAKTAR, Meral ATASOYATAN, Fırat AYDINKAYA, Yalçın SARITAŞ, Mehmet Deniz BÜYÜK,Serkan AKBAŞ, Servet DEMİR, Mehmet AYATA, ŞakirDEMİR, Mizgin IRGAT, Mensur IŞIK and Bekir KAYA. Thejournalist is Mr. Cengiz KAPMAZ. The three law firm staff are Sabahat ZeynepARAT, Hüseyin KARASU and Sıdık BAL.

[2] The court stated in its decisionthat there was no sign indicating that the accused would flee, they all hadstrong links to the places that they live and perform their profession,evidences had been collected so there was no possibility that accused would tryto effect evidences or witnesses.

[3] KCK is an umbrella organisation ofthe Kurdish political movement including politicians, trade unionists,university students, etc. said to be the “urban branch” of the armed PKK.

[4] See ObservatoryJoint Press Release, June 28, 2013.