PM’s “misleading and dangerous” attack on…
“It is misleading and dangerous for the prime minister to name-call lawyers who are upholding the rule of law,” said I. Stephanie Boyce in response to the prime minister’s attack on lawyers.
The president of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
We wrote the letter jointly with:
We’ve learnt that the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued detention warrants on 11 September 2020 for approximately 55 lawyers and trainee lawyers for being “members of a terrorist organisation”.
Their offices and places of residence were searched.
It was reported that their arrests were connected to their representation (or assistance with representation) of clients who are suspected of alleged affiliation with the Gülen movement.
During interrogations, the arrested lawyers were asked questions about their professional activities, some of which allegedly violate the principle of lawyer-client confidentiality.
We fear that the arrest of these lawyers is connected to, and serves to curb, their legitimate activities as lawyers.
We urged the Turkish authorities to: