Court of Verona, Caia: “In Turkey 450 lawyers convicted of being terrorists”
In the classroom of the Court of Assizes of the court of Verona a great one has been posted manifest with the symbol photo of the lawyer Ebru Timtik, dead on 27 August 2020, at the age of 42, in a prison in Istanbul, after 238 days of total fasting, invoking for all the respect for the right of defense and the right to a fair trial. The manifesto was donated by the Triveneto union of the councils of the order to the presidents of the Triveneto courts to be displayed in the judicial offices in memory of Ebru.
Francesco Caia, president of the international observatory of lawyers in danger – OIAD, spoke at the conference in Verona “The right to a fair trial beyond life”, stating: «Lo dismantling the rule of law in Turkey, which is also a member of the Council of Europe and signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights, is carried out not only through arrest and the arbitrary convictions of individual lawyers but also with the progressive weakening of forensic orders and it dissolution of associations of lawyers“.
He then continued, “In Turkey, according to the report on the repression against the lawyers of the association of Turkish lawyers in exile”Lawyers arrested initiative” 1600 lawyers were arrested and put on trial, 615 of these underwent a long preventive detention and 450 were sentenced to a total of 2,786 years of imprisonment, accused of belonging to terrorist associations or of promoting terrorism. Fourteen of the lawyers put on trial are presidents, or former presidents of orders ”.
The international observatory of lawyers in distress aims to defend lawyers, natural defenders of human rights at the international level, put on trial, arrested And unjustly condemned a heavy prison sentence, just because guilty of independently practicing the profession of lawyer. The Oiad has organized some missions to observe the trials of lawyers in South America and Turkey.