14 lawyers arrested and charged

On 15 September 2020, the 16th Panel Chamber of the Court of Cassation handed down its ruling in the case of 18 human rights lawyers from the People's Law Office.

The Court upheld the prison sentences of 14 human rights lawyers which range between just over three years to 13.5 years and asked for the re-evaluation of the cases of three of the lawyers. The Chamber concluded that there is no need to hand down a judgement for woman human rights defender Ebru Timtik after she died on 27 August, while hunger striking against the denial of her right to a fair trial. Her colleague Aytaç Ünsal who was also on hunger strike was released due his deteriorating health condition on 3 September 2020. The execution of his sentence has been postponed until his recovery.

The lawyers whose sentences were upheld are: Özgür Yılmaz (13 years, 6 months), Behiç Aşçı (12 years), Şükriye Erden (12 years), Engin Gökoğlu (10 years, 6 months), Süleyman Gökten (10 years, 6 months), Aycan Çiçek (9 years), Naciye Demir (9 years) and Aytaç Ünsal (10 years, 6 months) for "membership of an ‘armed terrorist’ organisation” and Ahmet Mandacı, Zehra Özdemir, Didem Baydar Ünsal, Yaprak Türkmen, Ayşegül Çağatay and Yağmur Ereren Demir (3 years, 1 month, 15 days) for "aiding to an ‘armed terrorist’ organisation".

The Court asked for Barkın Timtik’s 18 year and 9 month conviction for “forming and leading an ‘armed terrorist’ organisation" to be evaluated with a separate ongoing case against her at the Istanbul 18th Penal Court, where she is on trial for "membership of an ‘armed terrorist’ organisation".

Similarly, the Court ruled that Selcuk Kozağaçlı's 11 year and three month conviction for “membership of an ‘armed terrorist’ organisation” should be evaluated together with the case against him at Istanbul 18th Penal Court, where he is on trial for "leading an ‘armed terrorist’ organisation".

For Ezgi Çakır, who was sentenced to 8 years for "membership to an ‘armed terrorist’ organisation", the Court reversed this decision however it determined that the acts that she was accused of instead constitute "aiding an ‘armed terrorist’ organisation", for which she will receive a similar sentence to the other defenders who were handed down the same sentence, of just over three years.
 

On 27 August 2020, human rights lawyer Ebru Timtik died on the 238th day of a hunger strike to protest the irregularities in her trial and express serious concerns about judicial independence. The woman human rights defender had been sentenced to 13 years and six months after being convicted of membership of a terrorist organisation. Her health deteriorated rapidly in recent days and last night she passed away in the secured prison ward of Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Hospital. She and fellow lawyer Aytaç Ünsal were transferred to hospital from Silivri Prison on 30 July following a court order which ruled against their release on health grounds.

On 15 October 2019, the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice, Second Penal Chamber announced its decision in the case involving eighteen human rights lawyers from the People’s Law Office. They were were sentenced to between three and eighteen years in prison on terror-related charges. Six human rights lawyers were already under detention during the trial.

The Regional Court of Justice upheld the verdict of the lower court. Six human rights laywers had their sentence of up to five years imprisonment finalised and may not appeal. The twelve remaining human rights lawyers who were sentenced to more than five years in prison will be able to appeal the decision at the High Court of Appeals.

On 18, 19 and 20 March 2019, three hearings were held in the Istanbul 37th High Criminal Court in the case of 20 lawyers from the People's Law Office, six of them currently in detention. Eighteen human rights lawyers were prosecuted on terrorism-related charges and sentenced to between three and 18 years in prison. The cases of the remaining two human rights lawyers, Oya Aslan and Günay Dağ, remain open due to their absence from all three hearings.

On 18 March 2019, the Chief Justice opened the hearing by stating that the judges would hear the final statements of the defendants and announce the final verdict thereafter. The defence of the human rights lawyers objected by arguing that the case had not yet arrived at the defence phase. The defence further argued that according to the interim decision made by the court on 7 December 2018, the defendants had been given time until the hearing which was scheduled for 18 March 2019 to submit their demands regarding an extension to the scope of the prosecution as well as their responses to the statements made by the witnesses. The court initially rejected these objections, stating that they constituted an attempt at prolonging the legal proceedings. However, the defence lawyers insisted that they had the right to raise all issues related to the accusations during the hearings as well as to discuss their requests submitted to the court between the two hearings. Further, they argued that the court was obliged to at least hear all their requests and statements before pronouncing the final judgement. In reaction to the insistence of the lawyers, the court allowed them to respond to the statements made by the witnesses, and then changed its decision again in the middle of the hearing to only allow for a discussion on the requests regarding the extension of the prosecution. While the defence lawyers drew attention to the irregularities in the legal proceedings and the importance of impartiality and fair trial standards, they received warnings from the court for “objecting to court decisions”, “using accusatory language towards the judges” and “speaking without permission”. The court closed the hearing by announcing that there was nothing left to discuss regarding the accusations, and asked the defendants to prepare their defence for the next day.

On 19 March 2019, the Chief Justice once again opened the hearing by stating that the judges would hear the final statements of the defendants and pronounce the final verdict afterwards. The human rights lawyers called on the judges to recuse themselves, arguing that they had lost their impartiality. The defendants stated that the court was rushing through the case and that it had explicitly violated the Criminal Procedure Code by refusing to allow them to submit their requests and by arbitrarily ordering them to ask for permission to speak in court, thus denying their right to defence. In reaction to these statements, the judges ordered one of the defendants, Selçuk Kozağaçlı, to leave the courtroom on the grounds of his “accusatory language towards the judges”. The defence, the other human rights lawyers and their relatives protested the court’s decision and were all dismissed from the courtroom as a result. After a break, the hearing continued and the court issued an interim decision in the absence of the defence lawyers, rejected their request for the judges to recuse themselves and announced that the final statements of the defendants would be heard the next day.

On 20 March 2019, all of the human rights lawyers, with the exception of Ahmet Mandacı and Zehra Özdemir, and their legal representatives chose not to attend the hearing as an act of protest. However, the court still announced the final verdict in their absence and without hearing their final statements as to the accusations.

Six of the human rights lawyers were charged with "willingly and knowingly aiding a terrorist organization” based on Articles 314-3 and 227-2 of the Turkish Penal Code. Four of them, Ayşegül Çağatay, Yağmur Ereren, Didem Baydar Ünsal and Yaprak Türkmen, were sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. The sentences of the other two human rights lawyers, Ahmet Mandacı and Zehra Özdemir, were reduced to three years, one month and 15 days in prison due to their attendance at the last hearing.

Ten other human rights lawyers, including Selçuk Kozağaçlı and Engin Gökoğlu, were charged with "membership in a terrorist organization" based on the Article 314-2 of the Turkish Penal Code. They were sentenced to between nine and 13.5 years in prison. Selçuk Kozağaçlı was sentenced to prison for 10 years and 15 months and Engin Gökoğlu was sentenced to ten years and six months. Ezgi Çakır was sentenced to eight years in prison. She is currently under house arrest, caring for a small child while her husband remains in hiding.

Barkın Timtik was convicted of “establishing and leading a terrorist organisation” and sentenced to 18 years and nine months in prison based on the Article 314-1 of the Turkish Penal Code.

During the hearings, five of the defendants, Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Engin Gökoğlu, Aycan Çiçek, Aytaç Ünsal and Behiç Aşçı, were on an open-ended hunger strike which they had started on 24 January 2019 to draw attention to the irregularities in the trial. Upon hearing the court sentences on 23 March 2019, the human rights lawyers ended their hunger strike, stating that it had achieved its purpose by revealing the unlawfulness of the trial.

Front Line Defenders expresses its grave concern at the sentencing of these 18 human rights lawyers as it believes that their punishment is solely connected to their peaceful and legitimate human rights activities.

The trial of lawyers from People's Law Office continued between 3 and 5 December 2018 at Silivri Prison. The court ordered the release of Ahmet Mandacı and placed him under house arrest. The other five detained lawyers, namely Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Engin Gökoğlu, Aycan Çiçek, Aytaç Ünsal, and Behiç Aşçı, remain in detention. The court also increased judicial control of the six lawyers who were released in September 2018. They are now required to present themselves to the authorities twice a week. The next hearing is scheduled between 18 and 21 March 2019. In total, 17 lawyers are accused of “being members of a terrorist organisation”, while three of them are charged with “being managers of a terrorist organisation”.

People's Law Office is a public interest law firm known for its work on high profile cases such as that of 15-year old Berkin Elvan, who died during the Gezi Park protests after being hit on the head by a tear-gas canister fired by a police officer, and Dilek Doğan, a young woman who was shot and killed by a police officer during an anti-terror raid on her house on 18 October 2015. The Office also represented Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, two educators dismissed from their positions following the failed coup attempt of 15 July 2016. One of the organisation’s lawyers, Selçuk Kozağaçlı, worked on the “Soma Mine” disaster, the worst mine disaster in Turkey's history, in which 301 miners were killed.

During the second hearing of the lawyers from People’s Law Office, the court heard the witnesses for the prosecution and the charged lawyers presented their responses. They were heard by a different chief justice to the one initially in charge of the case. The new chief justice took over after the previous judge ordered the release of the 12 detained lawyers on 14 September 2018. The charged lawyers challenged the chief justice on the grounds of a lack of impartiality and stated that he should be disqualified from hearing this case. Their request was rejected by the court. Over the three days of hearings, the charged lawyers and their legal representatives were dismissed from the court room multiple times on grounds such as “speaking without permission”, “objecting [to the] court’s decisions” and “asking questions of the witnesses”. On the first day of the hearings, the president of Izmir Bar Association was pushed by a guard after he waved to the detained lawyers; he was then punched in the face by a guard during the tumult that broke out afterwards.

An anonymous witness for the prosecution stated that she could not recall the names of the lawyers she accused. Another witness, who was connected to the hearing via voice call, provided information on the inner structure of the alleged terrorist organisation but was unable to provide any information on the charged lawyers’ involvement.

On 14 September, after a full week of hearings, Istanbul’s 37th High Criminal Court ordered the release of all 17 detained lawyers from People’s Law Office, who had been in pre-trial detention since 2017. They were released the following morning. The court then ordered the re-arrest of 12 lawyers less than 24 hours after its previous decision, after the prosecutor had contested the Court’s decision. Six lawyers from the People’s Law Office, namely Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Engin Gökoğlu, Aycan Çiçek, Aytaç Ünsal, Behiç Aşçı and Ahmet Mandacı were re-arrested, and the re-arrest orders for six other lawyers are still pending. While the Court confirmed the release of the remaining five lawyers, namely Yaprak Türkmen, Yağmur Ereren Evin, Didem Baydar Ünsal, Ayşegül Çağatay and Zehra Özdemir, the criminal proceedings against all 20 charged lawyers remain ongoing.

Between 15 and 17 September 2018, six lawyers from People’s Law Office were re-arrested following a decision by Istanbul’s 37th High Criminal Court. On 14 September, after a full week of hearings, the Court ordered the release of all 17 detained lawyers from People’s Law Office, who had been in detention since 2017. They were released the following morning. The Court then ordered the re-arrest of 12 lawyers less than 24 hours after its previous decision, after the prosecutor had contested the Court’s decision. The Court confirmed the release of the remaining five lawyers, namely Yaprak Türkmen, Yağmur Ereren Evin, Didem Baydar Ünsal, Ayşegül Çağatay and Zehra Özdemir.

Between September and December 2017, 17 human rights lawyers from the People’s Law Office were arrested following orders from the Istanbul Criminal Peace Judge. A total of 20 lawyers from People’s Law Office faced charges and 17 of them were kept in pre-trial detention in seven different prisons, far from their families and their places of residence. 17 lawyers were accused of transmitting instructions from the DHKP-C’s (the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party) executive team to its members, while three of them were charged with “being managers of an armed terrorist organisation”. The Turkish government considers the DHKP-C a terrorist organisation.

On 10 September 2018, the hearing for the People’s Law Office case began, and the lawyers facing charges were heard before the Istanbul’s 37th High Criminal Court over the week. On 14 September, the Court ordered the release of all 17 of the detained lawyers, and they were released early the following morning. After the prosecutor contested the decision, the Court reconsidered and ordered the re-arrest of 12 of the recently released lawyers on the same charges.

Five of them, namely Engin Gökoğlu, Aycan Çelik, Aytaç Ünsal, Behiç Aşçı and Ahmet Mandacı, were detained on the same day. On 16 September, they were brought to the Istanbul Courthouse to give their statements on the arrest order and were arrested following the hearing. During the hearing, approximately 20 police officers from the anti-terror branch were present in the court room. The lawyers’ request to remove the police officers from the court room was denied. The police officers in question had conducted the investigation against the lawyers and were involved in reported ill-treatment of the lawyers.

Selçuk Kozaçağlı, one of the lawyers ordered to be re-arrested, was detained on 16 September and brought to the Istanbul Courthouse on 17 September to give his statement. He was heard by a different judge than the chief justice who is in charge of the case and had previously ordered their release. After a 10 minute long hearing, Selçuk Kozağaçlı was arrested. To date, six lawyers from the People’s Law Office have been re-arrested, and the re-arrest orders for six other lawyers are still pending.

On 11 April 2018, Istanbul’s 37th High Criminal Court accepted the indictment against 20 lawyers from the People’s Law Office. The indictment claims that the People’s Law Office is a sub-structure of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party (DHKP-C), which has been designated a terrorist organization in Turkey. The hearings have been scheduled for between 10 and 15 September 2018.

Between September and December 2017, 17 human rights lawyers from the People’s Law Office were arrested following orders from the Istanbul Peace Criminal Judge. Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Ebru Timtik, Didem Baydar Ünsal, Ahmet Mandacı, Aycan Çiçek, Ayşegül Çağatay, Aytaç Ünsal, Behiç Aşçı, Engin Gökoğlu, Ezgi Çakır, Günay Dağ, Naciye Demir, Süleyman Gökten, Şükriye Erden, Yağmur Erener Evin, Yaprak Türkmen and Zehra Özdemir were accused of transmitting instructions from the DHKP-C’s executive team to its members, while Oya Aslan, Barkın Timtik and Özgür Yılmaz, were charged with “being managers of an armed terrorist organization”. 17 of the 20 lawyers facing charges remain in pre-trial detention in a number of different prisons, far from their families and their places of residence.

Since September 2017, People’s Law Office has been raided by the police three times, on 12 September 2017, 18 December 2017 and 20 April 2018. A lawyer from the People’s Law Office stated that on 20 April 2018 the police entered into all 11 flats in the same building which did not belong to People’s Law Office and broke some of their neighbors’ doors.

Following almost a year of detention, the court will hear the majority of the detained lawyers through video call. Only Yaprak Türkmen and Selçuk Kozağaçlı, who have been detained in İstanbul Silivri Prison, will be personally brought to the court room for the hearings. One of the detained lawyers, Ahmet Mandacı, criticized in a letter to the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet that they would be questioned by video call rather than appearing before the judge. He further stated that he was not notified about the indictment although other lawyers in detention had been. On 20 September 2017, Ahmet Mandacı had been released under judicial control, but 10 days later he was arrested at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office.

A trainee lawyer who was arrested with the lawyers from the People’s Law Office, also sent a letter to Cumhuriyet and stated that the prison administration had banned him from any visitors for 100 months as he was protesting he and his fellow lawyers’ isolation. He also stated that he wrote several petitions to the Ministry of Justice, administration of Silivri Prison, Prosecutor’s Office and several courts to contest the solitary confinement of Selçuk Kozağaçlı and Yaprak Türkmen but the authorities responded that it was not under their authority. He further stated that while he had written letters to Selçuk Kozağaçlı the letters had not been given to him. Selçuk Kozağaçlı and Yaprak Türkmen have been kept in solitary confinement in İstanbul Silivri Prison since their arrest in September 2017.

On 26 February 2018, the People’s Law Office reported that one of its arrested lawyers, Süleyman Gökten, was beaten by guards in Tekirdağ No 1. T Type Prison.

On 26 February 2018, as many as 50 guards reportedly entered the cell where the lawyer is being held along with other detainees and proceeded to beat him and his fellow inmates.

A lawyer from the People’s Law Office who visited Süleyman Gökten and the other injured inmates reported that the cells are in an extremely poor condition and that they are dirty and neglected.

As further illustration of the poor conditions for detained lawyers of the People’s Law Office, on 2 March 2018, another arrested lawyer, Ayçan Çiçek, who is being held in Düzce T Type Prison, sent a letter to Cumhuriyet newspaper reporting that the conditions of detention were extremely poor. When she was brought to the cell along with a People’s Law Office colleague, Ayşegül Çağatay, the prison authorities did not provide necessary commodities like water, a table and chairs, spoons, forks or even beds. After the detained lawyers complained about the conditions, they received some equipment in order to clean the cell. Lawyers Yaprak Türkmen and lawyer Selçuk Kozağaçlı remain in solitary confinement.

The People’s Law Office further reported that prison authorities continue to impose arbitrary disciplinary measures on the detained lawyers, such as prohibitions on visits and books.

Between September and December 2017, a number of human rights lawyers from the People’s Law Office were arrested following orders from the Istanbul Peace Criminal Judge. They have been accused of having ties to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party (DHKP-C), which is a designated terrorist organisation in Turkey. They are being detained separately in a number of different prisons, far from their families and places of residence.

On 6 November 2017, the People’s Law Office reported that petitions from their imprisoned colleagues were being treated arbitrarily and in an unjust manner. According to the organisation, the petitions and requests of the human rights defenders are not being responded to, nor are they being sent to the relevant authorities by prison administrations. In Bolu T-Type Prison, Barkın Timtik, one of the 14 lawyers detained, lodged a petition objecting against a one month visitation ban, however it is reported that this petition never reached the relevant authorities. His sentence was thus finalised on the grounds that he had not objected. Barkın Timtik and his two colleagues detained in Bolu T-Type Prison are subjected to a number of other restrictions, including limits on the number of books they can keep and prohibitions on certain political magazines. The cases against all 14 lawyers remain confidential and no information has been given by authorities regarding the investigation or charges against them.

Lawyer Ahmet Mandacı from People’s Law Office, who was detained on 30 September 2017, and his colleague Özgür Yılmaz, detained ten days earlier, have been kept in solitary confinement since the beginning of their detention.

On 20 September 2017, 14 human rights lawyers from the People’s Law Office were arrested following orders from the Istanbul Peace Criminal Judge. They have been accused of having ties to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party (DHKP-C), recognised as a terorrist organisation in Turkey. They are being detained separately in a number of different prisons, far from their families and places of residence.

Currently Behiç Aşçı and Aytaç Ünsal are detained in Burhaniye T-Type Prison, Sükriye Erden and Didem Ünsal are detained in Karabük T-Type Prison, Naciye Demir, Barkın Timtik and Zehra Özdemir are in Bolu T-Type Prison, Yağmur Evin and Ebru Timtik are held in Balıkesir T-Type Prison, Ayşegül Çağatay and Aycan Çiçek are in Düzce T-Type Prison, Özgür Yılmaz and Ahmet Mandacı in Edirne F-Type Prison, Süleyman Gökten in Tekirdağ No. 1 Prison and Engin Gökoğlu is detained in Tekirdag No.2 Prison.