The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) deplores the conviction of ten lawyers, including Ramazan Demir, a member of the defence team of  Selahattin Demirtaş, who remains in detention despite binding ECtHR judgments, and the prison sentences imposed on them following a mass trial before the İstanbul 14 Heavy Penal Court. Their prosecutions appear to have been undertaken in reprisal for the legitimate and lawful exercise of their professional functions, and their convictions resulted from an unfair trial

The ICJ urges the Turkish authorities to quash the convictions of Ramazan Demir and other lawyers convicted for their legitimate professional activities, or otherwise ensure their reversal on appeal. to ensure that no lawyer is identified with their clients or their clients’ causes, and to bring law and practice into full conformity with international human rights law and standards governing the independence and protection of the legal profession.

“These convictions amount to the criminalization of legal defence,” said Temur Shakirov, Director of the ICJ Europe and Central Asia Programme. “Imposing these prison sentences on lawyers for their professional activities violates the rights of lawyers and constitutes a blow to the justice system as a whole.”

Read full article on Türkiye: Conviction of Kurdish lawyers is an affront to justice and undermines the independence of the legal profession