International organizations write to president Gül
International organizations write to president Gül
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA-International Association of Lawyers), the Conférence internationale des barreaux (CIB), Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) and the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (Front Line) have sent a letter to Turkish president Abdullah Gül and minister of justice Sadullah Ergin to express their "deepest concern about the frequent use of arbitrary detention and judicial harassment against a significant number of lawyers for merely defending their clients' rights in politically sensitive cases".
The letter stressed that "Our organisations deplore that cases of judicial harassment against lawyers for exercising their mission to provide a defence are not new and that, worse, they are becoming frequent. Many lawyers suffer judicial harassment because they are identified with their clients or the cause they defend".
The organizations also pointed out that "lawyers who represent clients in anti-terrorism cases, in turn face prosecution for terrorism on the basis of the vague provisions on membership, support or propaganda. Other lawyers have also suffered harassment due to their involvement in the promotion of universal human rights standards. It has been the case of lawyer Mr.Muharrem Erbey, General Vice-President of the Human Rights Association (Ýnsan Haklari Derneði - ÝHD) and President of its Diyarbakýr province branch, who is remanded into custody since December 23, 2009, but also of lawyers Mr. Hasan Anlar, ÝHD Deputy Secretary General, Ms. Filiz Kalayci, ÝHD Executive Committee member, Mr. Halil Ýbrahim Vargün, ÝHD former Treasurer, and Mr. Murat Vargün, ÝHD member, one of the most notorious case, who face a prison sentence of between 6 to 15 years of imprisonment as well as others".
The targeting of lawyers occur as other categories of Turkish civil society have also been repressed in the scope of the so-called “KCK” (Kurdish Communities Union) operations, including NGO activists, journalists, writers, intellectuals, trade unionists, students, teachers, elected officials and Kurdish political activists.
The letter underlined that "As recommended by the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Ms. Gabriela Carina Knaul de Albuquerque e Silva, in her 2009 report to General Assembly (UN document A/64/181), “as regards freedom to carry out legal work […] authorities [should] cease, with immediate effect, to associate lawyers with the interests of their clients and refrain from expressing related comments in the public sphere”".
According to the signatories "These arrests are contrary to human rights standards which bind Turkey. Furthermore, these arrests contravene the “Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers” (Havana Rules) as adopted at the United Nations (UN) in Havana/Cuba in 1990. According to these rules, the Government is responsible for ensuring that lawyers can carry out their profession without experiencing threats, interference, harassment and inappropriate intervention and that lawyers should not be associated with the interest of their clients. We call on the Government in Turkey to immediately release the lawyers and stop their judicial harassment".
It is with this concern that the organisations note that "these lawyers have significantly and unquestionably contributed to the promotion and protection of human rights in general and those of their clients in particular. Therefore, the State of Turkey should “take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration” in conformity with Article 12.2 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders".
The letter ended with the "call upon your Excellencies to ensure that lawyers in the Republic of Turkey do not face any act of harassment, in conformity with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights,the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and the Havana Rules as well as to ensure the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in all circumstances in accordance with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by the Republic of Turkey, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights".
The letter stressed that "Our organisations deplore that cases of judicial harassment against lawyers for exercising their mission to provide a defence are not new and that, worse, they are becoming frequent. Many lawyers suffer judicial harassment because they are identified with their clients or the cause they defend".
The organizations also pointed out that "lawyers who represent clients in anti-terrorism cases, in turn face prosecution for terrorism on the basis of the vague provisions on membership, support or propaganda. Other lawyers have also suffered harassment due to their involvement in the promotion of universal human rights standards. It has been the case of lawyer Mr.Muharrem Erbey, General Vice-President of the Human Rights Association (Ýnsan Haklari Derneði - ÝHD) and President of its Diyarbakýr province branch, who is remanded into custody since December 23, 2009, but also of lawyers Mr. Hasan Anlar, ÝHD Deputy Secretary General, Ms. Filiz Kalayci, ÝHD Executive Committee member, Mr. Halil Ýbrahim Vargün, ÝHD former Treasurer, and Mr. Murat Vargün, ÝHD member, one of the most notorious case, who face a prison sentence of between 6 to 15 years of imprisonment as well as others".
The targeting of lawyers occur as other categories of Turkish civil society have also been repressed in the scope of the so-called “KCK” (Kurdish Communities Union) operations, including NGO activists, journalists, writers, intellectuals, trade unionists, students, teachers, elected officials and Kurdish political activists.
The letter underlined that "As recommended by the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Ms. Gabriela Carina Knaul de Albuquerque e Silva, in her 2009 report to General Assembly (UN document A/64/181), “as regards freedom to carry out legal work […] authorities [should] cease, with immediate effect, to associate lawyers with the interests of their clients and refrain from expressing related comments in the public sphere”".
According to the signatories "These arrests are contrary to human rights standards which bind Turkey. Furthermore, these arrests contravene the “Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers” (Havana Rules) as adopted at the United Nations (UN) in Havana/Cuba in 1990. According to these rules, the Government is responsible for ensuring that lawyers can carry out their profession without experiencing threats, interference, harassment and inappropriate intervention and that lawyers should not be associated with the interest of their clients. We call on the Government in Turkey to immediately release the lawyers and stop their judicial harassment".
It is with this concern that the organisations note that "these lawyers have significantly and unquestionably contributed to the promotion and protection of human rights in general and those of their clients in particular. Therefore, the State of Turkey should “take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration” in conformity with Article 12.2 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders".
The letter ended with the "call upon your Excellencies to ensure that lawyers in the Republic of Turkey do not face any act of harassment, in conformity with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights,the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and the Havana Rules as well as to ensure the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in all circumstances in accordance with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by the Republic of Turkey, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights".
