The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute and The Arrested Lawyers Initiative have released a detailed report highlighting the declining independence of the legal profession and bar associations in Turkey. The report underscores the targeting of law professionals through unfair trials, arbitrary detainment, imprisonment and harassment, as well as the alarming misuse of counter-terrorism legislation to prosecute lawyers in the course of their legitimate work.
In total disregard of the ECHR rulings, which serve as directly applicable precedents for the case at hand, the Ankara Appeals Court sentenced 19 lawyers to 125+ years for entirely lawful activities.
Mehmet Ali Uçar’ın çektiği çile, hem iç hukuk hem de uluslararası insan hakları standartlarının hiçe sayıldığı, kaygı verici düzeyde keyfilik ve yolsuzlukla işleyen bir yargının simgesidir.
Uçar’s case serves as a poignant illustration of the arbitrariness and corruption within the Turkish judiciary, as well as a blatant disregard for the rulings of the ECtHR. The circumstances surrounding Uçar’s repeated arrests, the reliance on legally dubious evidence, and the failure to adhere to international legal standards underscore systemic issues that challenge the principles of justice and the rule of law.
As lawyers demand accountability for violence against political prisoners in a high-security prison, the Turkish authorities have remained silent, raising fears of another case of impunity.
Recently, lawyer Nesimi Yalçınoğlu died, becoming yet another victim of the Turkish judiciary, which has been weaponised by the Erdogan government to rule by fear.