Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), which represents the bars and law societies of 45 countries and more than 1 million European lawyers, wrote a letter to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to urge the release of Turkish lawyers in prison.
The letter signed by CCBE President, Ruthven Gemmell, expressed concern regarding the recent convictions of 20 Turkish lawyers in Konya, including the former head of the Konya Bar Association, Fevzi Kayacan, who was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months of imprisonment.
Gemmell also raised concerns on the torture and ill treatment of lawyers in detention.
In the letter, the CCBE also quoted the data regarding number of Turkish lawyers who have been arrested and prosecuted since 2016 July which compiled by The Arrested Lawyers Initiative:
“We understand that the number of lawyers under criminal prosecution in Turkey raised to 1433 and 555 lawyers have been arrested since the coup attempt in July 2016.
In view of the above, the CCBE respectfully urges your Excellency to ensure that all the lawyers mentioned above are released immediately as it is believed that their detention is solely motivated by their activities as lawyers. In addition, the CCBE asks you to take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of lawyers in Turkey as well as their ability to perform their professional duties without fear of reprisal, hindrance, intimidation or harassment.” said the CCBE President, Ruthven Gemmell.
(Source: arrestedlawyers.org )