Turkish lawyers focus of 2019 Day of the Endangered Lawyer
The Day of the Endangered Lawyer is focusing on Turkey, where lawyers from all ideological and social backgrounds are trying to practice their profession under alarmingly increasing pressures.
Selcuk Kozagacli, an outspoken human rights attorney and chairman of the Progressive Lawyers Association (CHD), appeared Jan. 29 at his father's grave handcuffed to a police officer. He had been brought to the funeral from his prison cell. A young attorney bending down handcuffed by his father's grave, shoveling soil with one hand, is regarded by many as a cruel and unusual punishment of critical voices in Turkey.
Attorney Didem Baydar Unsal from the People’s Law Office told Al-Monitor that Kozagacli was handcuffed for 26 hours while being transported to and from his father’s funeral. Although security personnel knew Kozagacli was not a flight risk, they did not unlock the handcuffs or let him mourn with his family for fear of their own superiors.
Unsal said that their law office had been subjected to a major judicial operation in 2013, whereby 22 attorneys were taken into custody and nine others arrested. According to Unsal, the reason for those arrests was these lawyers’ opposition to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) policies. Kozagacli was imprisoned for a year along with the others.
Unsal provided Al-Monitor with a list of cases that the People’s Law Office handled in the past, some of which have been discussed in detail by Al-Monitor, such as police brutality, miners who died in work accidents and other human rights issues.
