Lawyer Efkan Bolaç's phone to be confiscated for 'search for indications of a crime'

Investigating the lawyer over a social media post, prosecutors ordered the confiscation of his phone to look for other "indications of crime."

Ayça Söylemez

Lawyer Efkan Bolaç's phone to be confiscated for 'search for indications of a crime'

Click to read the article in Turkish

The prosecutor investigating lawyer Efkan Bolaç over his social media posts has ordered the examination of his phone for the revelation of other posts that could be "subject to accusations."

The phone's "gallery" and WhatsApp messages will also be examined, according to the order.

If Bolaç didn't consent to the examination, police officers whom the prosecutor instructed to take a statement from the lawyer should request a confiscation order from the prosecutor's office.

"Reaching evidence through the suspect"

This order was aimed at "reaching evidence through the suspect," which is the exact opposite of rules of the penal law, Bolaç told bianet.

He also noted that he wasn't informed about what the charges against him were.

The investigation was opened after a Twitter post by Bolaç on May 19, 2018, Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day.

In the post, Bolaç shared pictures of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Mahir Çayan, a revolutionary from the 1970s, and wrote, "Look at the quirk of life, we, who fly the National Liberation Flag in Turkey in 1971 on the path he [Atatürk] opened, are accused of betraying him in the name of him by those who don't have anything to do with him. - Mahir Çayan #Atatürk #May19."

Bolaç may lose attorney license

Bolaç previously stood trial because of his remarks on the "Facing with the Recent History" program on Bugün TV. The case was filed five years after the program was aired and the lawyer was sentenced to three years in prison for "propagandizing for a terrorist organization."

The İstanbul 35th Heavy Penal Court did not reduce the sentence because "the defendant did not show repentance" and the 3rd Penal Chamber of the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice upheld the sentence. The case is currently before the Court of Cassation.

If it upholds the sentence, Bolaç's attorney license can be canceled based on article 5 of the Attorneys' Act.

The case in question was filed upon a complaint by İ.Ö., the "permanent witness," about whom bianet reported on the first.

İ.Ö. was sentenced to 18 years in prison and was a witness in hundreds of cases. Watching TV programs in his cell, İ.Ö. frequently files complaints against those who "insult the president and the state" on programs. Bolaç was one of them.

The prosecutor's office first decided not to prosecute the case but then filed an indictment against the lawyer.

İ.Ö. (37), who has been in prison for 14 years, will be entitled to parole in 2022. He is facing an "aggravated life sentence" in another case. The crimes he is convicted of: buying, possessing, carrying unlicensed firearms and bullets, injury, armed looting, false imprisonment, simple injury.

Article 5 of the Attorneys' - Act Impediments to admission into attorneyship

The request for admission into attorneyship shall be denied in the presence of any one of the circumstances below:

Having been definitively sentenced to imprisonment in excess of two years with the exception of crimes of negligence or heavy imprisonment in excess of one year or having been convicted of one of the infamous crimes such as crimes against the security of the state, crimes against the Constitutional order and the functioning of this order, simple and aggravated embezzlement, malversation, bribery, theft, swindling, fraud, betrayal of confidence and fraudulent bankruptcy as well as smuggling, with the exception of smuggling for the purpose of use and consumption, and bid-rigging.

(AS/VK)

Ayça Söylemez

[email protected]

all articles of the author

Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Felsefe Bölümü mezunu. Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi Sosyoloji bölümünde yüksek lisans yaptı. Marmara Üniversitesi İletişim Bilimleri’nde doktora yapıyor. Vatan, Akşam, HaberTürk ve Hürriyet gazetelerinin yazıişleri ve dış haberler bölümünde çalıştı. Güncel Hukuk dergisinde yazıları yayınlandı. BirGün’de Anonim adlı köşeyi yazıyor. 2011’den bu yana bianet’te İnsan Hakları Editörü.