Up to 450 years imprisonment sought for ÇHD lawyers

In the partially reopened trial against lawyers of the Association of Progressive Lawyers (ÇHD), the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has demanded a total sentence of up to 450 years imprisonment. The defendants are accused of leadership and/or membership in a terrorist organization – meaning the banned “Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front” (DHKP-C) – as well as terrorist propaganda.

A total of nineteen lawyers are accused in the trial, including ÇHD Chairman Selçuk Kozağaçlı, winner of the Hans Litten Award, who has been imprisoned for five years, and his colleague Barkın Timtik, winner of the Ludovic Trarieux Human Rights Award 2020 and sister of lawyer Ebru Timtik, who died last year after a 238-day death fast for a fair trial.

No evidence, only accusations

In the case against the ÇHD, there is no evidence, only accusations. The prosecution relies mainly on statements by alleged DHKP-C defectors, who are believed to be agents of the Turkish intelligence service (MIT), and alleged documents from police authorities in Belgium and the Netherlands. According to a prosecutor’s report, these documents, which the Turkish police claim to have obtained through requests for information, show that the defendants had ties to the DHKP-C and acted “in accordance with its goals.” According to Belgian and Dutch security authorities, the ÇHD-affiliated People’s Law Office (HHB) is a “subsidiary organization” of the DHKP-C.

Kozağaçlı: Attack on free advocacy

Selçuk Kozağaçlı described the trial, which was heard in the courtroom on the grounds of the Silivri Prison Complex, as unlawful and an “attack on free advocacy”. He said the prosecution had copied the indictment from the lower court’s trial and the court was guilty of a criminal offense with the proceedings. “It is a process that cannot be legitimized and is politically motivated. We are charged because as lawyers we have performed our duties and exercised our right to freedom of expression.” There was applause from the rows of spectators, which included numerous observers from abroad.

Trial adjourned until January

The court rejected all requests to halt the trial, but ordered the inspection of Dutch and Belgian police documents, as well as witness testimony and an identity check in the case of alleged MIT agent Ismet Özdemir. Kozağaçlı and Timtik remain in custody, and the trial will not resume until next year. According to the court, the fifth main hearing will take place from January 5 to 7, 2022.

State repression against ÇHD and HHB

The members of ÇHD and HHB have been at the focus of the Turkish repressive authorities for decades. They are known for their struggle in enforcing human and civil rights and predominantly take on political mandates: for example, they were all involved in successful trials before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against Turkey. Selçuk Kozağaçlı, for example, who is one of the most prominent defendants in the ÇHD trial, represented, before his imprisonment, the relatives of 54-year-old Metin Lokumcu, who was killed in 2011 during protests against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s election rallies in the Black Sea coastal region when police used tear gas. He also became involved in the case of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan, who was hit in the head by a tear gas canister during the Gezi protests in 2013 and died after nine months in a coma, represented the bereaved families of those killed in the Soma mine accident, and university lecturer Nuriye Gülmen and teacher Semih Özakça, who were dismissed from the civil service after the foiled military coup in 2016.