Letter from European Council of Bars to President Erdoğan

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Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) President Michel Benichou has written a letter to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about detention of Progressive Legists Association (ÇHD) Vice President Münip Ermiş.

President of the CCBE, which has over a million members in the EU countries, stated that they are concerned about the fact that 22 attorneys are still in custody.

Immediate release of Ermiş and the other lawyers has been demanded of Erdoğan.

The letter also underlined the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and a copy of it was presented to Erdoğan among with the letter.

On September 8, police raided houses and workplaces of the 25 lawyers in Antalya on the grounds of the investigations launched into the Fethullah Gülen community.

The 22 lawyers including the ÇHD Vice President Ermiş are still in custody.

Statement from European law organizations

The European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH) and European Lawyers for Democracy (ELD) had issued a statement as the detention of Ermiş.

The organizations claiming that "the government is using the FETÖ investigations as a cloak to suppress the dissidents" demanded immediate release of the Ermiş. (AS/TK)