Within the scope of our new project we are publishing interviews with prominent European lawyers, academics and executives of judges’ associations. Our fourth interview is with Filipe Marques who is the president of MEDEL – Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les… Read More ›
Our second interview with Mr Manuel Soares who is president of the Union Association of the Portuguese Judges (Associação Sindical dos Juízes Portugueses). The ASJP is the champion on protecting the independence of the judiciary in Europe. According to some scholars the ECJ’s judgment in the case filed by ASJP is arguably one of the most important judgments as regards the principle of the rule of law in the EU legal system.
The cover of this report shows the dramatic figures of the repression against lawyers in Turkey. Colleagues unjustly stripped of their families, their friends, their profession, their freedom. An unbearable reality
Law no. 7242’s amendments worsen already existing injustice in Turkey’s criminal justice system. The notorious mob leader, Alaattin Cakici, was released as soon as President Erdogan approved the amendments, while the award winning author, Ahmet Altan, hundreds of lawyers and journalists, remain in prison. Considering that, only in Izmir (Buca) Prison, 65 inmates tested COVID19, this danger is not remote, imagined or simply feared but actual and imminent. Therefore, we must continue to advocate on their behalf to show they are not forsaken.
As of 5th September, 2019, the SDIF controls and manages 998 seized companies, and also the assets of 113 real persons. As announced on the web site of the SDIF, the total worth of the seized companies is 58.94 billion Turkish liras (appx. 10 Billion USD).
According to our survey carried out on the Turkish Justice Ministry’s statistics of their operations in the last five years, there is a steady increase in the use of anti-terrorism law on individuals by public prosecutors. So, while 8,324 people were indicted under Article 314 of the TPC in 2013, 146,718 people were indicted under the same Article in 2017.