HRW Report on Lawyers in Turkey: They Feel Like 'Extras' in Hearings

*The banner reads, "If the lawyers are silenced, the people are breathless," in a lawyers' demonstration in Taksim, İstanbul. (Photo: Hikmet Adal / bianet)

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a report that examines the prosecution practices against lawyers after the July 2016 coup attempt, titled, "Lawyers on Trial: Abusive Prosecutions and Erosion of Fair Trial Rights in Turkey."

The 56-page report said hundreds of lawyers were arbitrarily arrested and tried after the coup attempt.

"The report examines how the police and prosecutors have targeted lawyers with criminal investigations and arbitrary detention, associating them with their clients' alleged crimes," HRW said in a statement.

Trials of 168 attorneys examined

HRW examined the case files of 168 lawyers who were tried between July 2016 and February 2019.

The case of the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD), where the court gave three to 18 years of prison terms to the defendant lawyers without taking their defense statements, was among them. 

The report also included a trial that 21 lawyers were sentenced to prison for up to 8 years and 1 month on the ground of being a member of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), which is held responsible for the coup attempt.

"In neither of these two mass trials was there evidence that the lawyers had participated in violent activity or incited violence," the report said.

"Turkey should end its assault on the legal profession"

The Europe and Central Asia Director of the HRW, Hugh Williamson, said, "Putting hundreds of lawyers in jail and on trial, and restricting their ability to act for people in police custody and in court, shows the dire state of Turkey's criminal justice system and should be of grave concern to everyone in Turkey and internationally."

"Lawyers are central guarantors of the right to a fair trial and Turkey's willingness to flout it over the past three years is deeply alarming," he said.

"Turkey's government should end its assault on the legal profession. The Union of Turkish Bar Associations, other lawyers' groups, the EU, and the Council of Europe have an important role to play in Conveying that message to Ankara," Williamson added

"Courts are unresponsive to lawyers' petitions"

In terrorism trials, the courts have become increasingly unresponsive to petitions to have evidence critically examined or tested and to hear witnesses for the defense, according to the attorneys HRW interviewed.

"Lawyers said they were little more than "extras" in court hearings. Equality of arms between the prosecution and the defendant cannot be preserved if the defendant's lawyer is with no valid justification barred from mounting an effective defense and if the adversarial elements of proceedings become little more than a formality," the report said.

Recommendations to the government

The report is concluded with HRW's recommendations to the government of Turkey and law organizations.

• Immediately end the systematic abusive detentions and prosecutions of lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and court officials; drop the charges against and, where relevant, release those accused of no more than vague association and affiliations with proscribed groups.
• Immediately end the interference in and targeting of bar associations and lawyers' associations as well as the arbitrary arrest and prosecution of their members.
• Repeal the state of emergency amendments passed into law concerning the right of lawyers to discharge their professional duties, the rights of suspects to legal counsel, the right of lawyer-client privileged communication and other amendments outlined in this report.
• End the practice of prosecuting lawyers, based in whole or in part, on whom they have represented as clients and actions which constitute discharging their duties as a lawyer.
• End mass trials of lawyers in particular on disproportionate charges such as the charge of membership of a terrorist organization.

Click to read the full report

(HA/VK)