TBB Ending Free Counseling on August 1
The decision is expected to effect thousands of defendants including women and children prosecuted under the CMK who cannot afford to pay for their legal defense.
"It is impossible for our colleagues to continue this service that they have provided at great self-sacrifice and facing many difficulties" a TBB statement said, reflecting the conclusion of the Union's July 22 meeting with Bar Association chairmen.
TBB figures show that in the first six months of this year alone, lawyers were supposed to be paind over 67 million YTL for services they had provided under the CMK whereas only 20 million of this had actually been allocated.
A TBB statement explained that most of the year 2006 allocation for legal defense had been consumed when paying the backtrack bills of the previous year and that 17,000 lawyers had not been paid for their services even though they were working in the scheme at rates far lower than minimum wage. It added that not even their expenses had been covered and that the lawyers had been forced to pay out of pocket.
Of immediate interest to human rights activists monitoring the deadlock in Turkey and abroad is the impact it will have on women and children defendants prosecuted under CMK, a code which has raised criticism for its controversial articles relating to freedom and rights. There is also concern that lack of legal counsel may lead to a growth in human rights violations in detention with the risk of spreading torture and mistreatment.
Gundem Childrens Association has acted in view of these concerns had made an appeal for the TBB to reconsider its decision for minors and to continue to assign attorneys to those aged under 18 whether they are victims or offenders as part of a social responsibility.
Jurists Worried Over Rights
Jurists evaluating the decision to bianet earlier this month said the government's failure to pay lawyers for their 'free counseling' for clients put them in a difficult situation which harmed both the impartiality of defense and the rights of the defendants.
İzmir's Torture Prevention Group lawyer Nalan Erkem expressed her concerns saying "the fact that the government is not appropriating funds for payments is an open indication that it gives no importance to defense rights. What they aim to do is to constrict the scope of the CMK. Torture will increase. Defendant rights are being violated".
Erkem said the six month delay in payments to lawyers that has led to the TBB decision would seriously harm defence rights from initial custody onwards and proposed the government to at least pull the rates down to minimum levels but still make them.
Diyarbakir Bar Association CMK Enforcement Centre lawyer Baris Yavuz said, on the other hand, that just like in health the health sector providing for examinations and treatment as well as medication for those in need, counseling had to be covered for those not able to afford it.
Yavuz said TBB was owed up to 64 million YTL whereas the Diyarbakir Bar Association had a 2 million 300 thousand YTL share of this and explained that 295 lawyers of the bar association there had said they would not work for free.
Adding that resignations from the bar association had already started, Yavuz noted they did not even know whether they would pay for today's services in a years time. (KO/II/YE)