Case of ÇHD lawyers taken to Constitutional Court: 'Violations won't fit into the form'

Drawing: Murat Başol

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"According to the indictment, the attorneys were accused of 'following the cases of people such as Berkin Elvan, Hasan Ferit Gedik, Dilek Doğan, Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça as an attorney'. Prison meetings with their clients, their studies on rights violations in prisons, the processes regarding the cases they were involved in, their legal pursuits against police violence in events like May 1, Gezi Park [2013 protests] and so on were stated in the legal basis of the accusation."

The case of the 18 attorneys from the Progressive Lawyers' Association (ÇHD) and People's Law Bureau (HHB), who received a total of 159 years of prison sentence on "terrorism" charges, has been brought to the Constitutional Court after the Court of Cassation upheld the verdict.

The lawyers' petition of application said, "Because almost all principles of the right to a fair trial were violated, it is not possible to fit all violations into the application form."

The lawyers' "right to a fair trial" was violated according to Article 36 of the Constitution and Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and "the freedom of expression, gathering, holding demonstrations and organization" was violated according to Articles 26 and 34 of the Constitution and Articles 10 and 11 of the ECHR, said the petition signed by attorneys Çiğdem Akbulut, Benan Molu and Ramazan Demir.

Article 18 of the ECHR as also violated according to the petition: "This trial, which aimed to stop their work as attorneys, silence and punish the attorneys and their clients because of the cases they follow and intimidating other people, attorneys, in particular, is the most tangible indication of judicial harassment and a violation of Article 18."

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) gave its first decision about Turkey's violation of Article 18 in the case of Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned former co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), stating that the reason for Demirtaş's sentence was not legal but political.

"The permanent witness"

"Permanent witness" İ.Ö., "anonymous witness" Derya Altın and witness B.E. "are not psychologically eligible for testifying," according to the petition.

"For example, İ.Ö.'s completely fictitious statements that he had been working as an intelligence officer since the age of 10 and the letter B.E. sent to the prosecutor's office, have been the basis of the conviction despite the official medical report.

"Despite the fact that İ.Ö. was previously sentenced for false testimony, the information related to this file has not been shared with the defense. A satisfactory explanation has not been made about why the identities of the witnesses were kept secret.

"It was revealed in an investigation concurrent with the investigation against the applicants that witness statements were mostly given with police coercion or to avoid the threat of punishment."

The same judge in every case

About Akın Gürlek the presiding judge of the court board that was assigned after the lawyers were released and arrested again in a short time, the petition said that "Presiding Judge ajkın Gütlek was involved in the investigation and prosecution stages of other cases related to the applicants' case."

As a penal judge of peace, he was involved in the investigation against and the arrest of B.E., who had applied to benefit from the repentance law, and as the presiding judge of the İstanbul 26th Heavy Penal Court, he was involved in the prosecution phase of the investigation against B.E., according to the petition.

"Also, Gürlek, as the presiding judge of the İstanbul 26th Heavy Penal Court, sentenced Cumhuriyet newspaper reporter Canan Coşkun, who made a report about B.E., for 'targeting people who participated in the fight against terrorism' to 2 years and 3 months in prison," it said.

Gürlek was also the presiding judge in a case where İ.Ö., a witness in the case of the applicants, was the defendant, the petition further noted.

President called the lawyers "terrorists"

In the petition, it was also said that the attorneys were often targeted and labeled as "terrorists" by senior state officials.

"On July 21, 2017, a booklet named, 'The Never-Ending Scenario of a Terrorist Organization: The Reality of Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça,' which made accusations against Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, who did not have any conviction, and their attorneys was published on the official website of the Ministry of Interior.

"The Minister of Interior insistently harassed the attorneys by targeting them and labeling them as "terrorists" in his speech at the parliament on October 19, 2017, in his speech at HaberTürk on October 9, 2019, and in a speech at the Parliamentary Committee on Planning and Budget on November 20, 2019.

"President [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan targeted the attorneys of the families of those who lost their lives in the Soma Mine Massacre, including Selçuk Kozağaçlı and ÇHD attorneys, in his speech on November 3, 2017.

"On May 28, 2020, a booklet entitled, 'The collapse of a terrorist organization: Death Fasts and the Collapse of the DHKP-C [Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front)'. In this booklet published while the appellate review was continuing, the People's Law Bureau and especially Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal were declared criminals."

The attorneys also noted that Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu had said "I strongly denounce those who hung the picture of a terrorist on İstanbul Bar," after the death of lawyer Ebru Timtik during a death fast.

Soylu's remarks were followed by Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül, added attorneys. "It is unacceptable that a bar association becoming propaganda centers and the backyard of illegal groups, terrorist organizations, marginal groups." (AS/VK)