Four More Lawyers from People's Law Bureau Arrested

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The attorneys from the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) and the People's Law Bureau (HHB) and three other people who were detained on June 20 were brought to the İstanbul Courthouse this morning (June 25).

Attorney Timtik, who was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison for "membership of a terrorist organization," has been arrested and sent to jail.

CLICK - 18 Lawyers Sentenced to Prison for 159 Years, 1 Month, 30 Days in Total

Today, Timtik also gave a statement in another lawsuit that was filed against her for the same offense.

"There is already an unlawful verdict on me by the İstanbul 37th Heavy Penal Court but the judiciary, not abiding by its own verdicts, has opened a repeating investigation," Timtik remarked.

Lawyers Ayşegül Çağatay, Görkem Ağdede and Nadide Özdemir have also been arrested after giving statements to a judge.

Özhan Aslan, brother of one of the attorneys has been released while Gülser Sarıgül, the secretary, and Kamile Kayır, a client of the bureau, have been arrested.

What happened?

Most of the lawyers, who are members of the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) and People's Law Bureau (HHB), were taken into custody in police raids against their bureaus on September 12, 2017, and arrested on September 20. Chair of the ÇHD Selçuk Kozağaçlı was arrested on November 13, 2017

At their hearing on September 14, 2018, the İstanbul 37th Heavy Penal Court ruled for the release of the lawyers Ahmet Mandacı, Aycan Çiçek, Ayşegül Çağatay, Aytaç Ünsal, Barkın Timtik, Behiç Aşçı, Didem Baydar Ünsal, Ebru Timtik, Engin Gökoğlu, Naciye Demir, Özgür Yılmaz, Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Süleyman Gökten, Şükriye Erden, Yağmur Ererken, Yaprak Türkmen and Zehra Özdemir.

However, less than 24 hours after a verdict of release was given for them, the board of the court was changed and, in the meanwhile, the Prosecutor's Office objected to the verdict.

The new court board ruled that six of the released lawyers should be arrested again. After spending one day outside prison, six released lawyers were re-arrested and sent to prisons in different provinces of Turkey. The arrest warrants issued against lawyers Günay Dağ and Oya Aslan have still been in effect.

One of the defendants, Barkın Timtik, was also arrested on March 1.

The prosecutor of the court announced his opinion as to the accusations on February 21, 2019, and demanded that all defendants be penalized on charge of "membership of an armed terrorist organization."

In the final hearing of the case held on March 20, 2019, the İstanbul 37th Heavy Penal Court ruled that 18 lawyers shall be sentenced to 159 years, 1 months and 30 days in prison in total.

(AS/VK)