Avocats Européens Démocrates

06/14/2021

Joint Statement – IFTD

Today, 14 June 2021, marks the inaugural International Fair Trial Day (IFTD) which will be observed for the first time worldwide. The focus country of the IFTD this year is Turkey, a country that is and has been suffering for many years, from systemic human rights violations and a serious lack of fair trial standards. On the occasion of the IFTD, drawing attention to the deteriorating situation in the country, the undersigned organisations call upon the Turkish authorities to take the necessary steps urgently to instate the right to a fair trial in Turkey and to create an environment under which these fundamental procedural rights can effectively be protected. The undersigned organisations also call upon the international community to increase their efforts to draw attention to the situation in Turkey with a particular focus on the issues around the fair trial principles.

Background of the IFTD

In response to the serious failure of the judicial system in Turkey to protect and respect fair trial principles, lawyers Ebru Timtik and Aytaç Ünsal began a hunger strike in January 2020. They expressed a common demand of many thousands who were subjected to arbitrary investigations, trials, arrests, detentions, and wrongful convictions. They called on the Turkish government to comply with its obligations to secure and respect the right to a fair trial and to end practices constituting systemic violations of this fundamental right. On 5 April 2020, on Lawyers’ Day in Turkey, they turned their hunger strike into a death fast to underline the vital importance of this demand. Ebru Timtik lost her life on 27 August 2020, the 238th day of her death fast, while Aytaç Ünsal ended his protest on 4 September 2020 following a temporary release order by the Supreme Court which was later withdrawn. He was returned to prison on 10 December 2020.

Fundamental rights and freedoms and principles of the rule of law are under attack not only in Turkey but globally. In many countries, including European countries, there are reports documenting governmental oppression and practices undermining international human rights obligations. Thus, those who carry out activities to condemn, draw attention to and criticise these practices are under constant pressure from the state apparatus, including pressure from the judiciary, whose independence and impartiality is being seriously undermined. Attempts are being made to silence lawyers, human rights defenders, journalists, opposition politicians, academics and many others raising their voices against such policies through baseless

accusations against them, e.g. under anti-terror legislation, a practice that has been referred to as ‘judicial harassment’.

The International Fair Trial Day was established along with the Ebru Timtik Award to advocate for the re-establishment of fair trial rights in those countries where fair trial rights are under serious threat. The occasion will be used by the international community to focus on the situation in the country chosen for that year as the focus country and to draw attention to the fair trial issues faced there. Also, an annual Ebru Timtik Award will be granted to an individual and/or an organisation from the focus country that has been active in defending and or promoting the right to a fair trial in that specific country.

Taking into account the background of the IFTD and the continuing deterioration of the situation in the country, Turkey was chosen this year as the focus country. In future years other countries will be chosen to reflect the challenges to the right to fair trial being experienced in those respective jurisdictions.

Call to Action on Turkey

The state of human rights and rule of law in Turkey have been declining particularly since the Gezi Park protests in 2013 which were followed by the collapse of the peace talks in 2015 and the state of emergency declared after the 15 July 2016 coup attempt which remained in place for 2 years until July 2018. The mistreatment of lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders, opposition politicians, academics, and others who are critical of the current situation reflects a far wider practice in the country of failing to respect fair trial rights, among other fundamental rights and freedoms, especially since the attempted coup of July 2016.

The rapid deterioration seen in human rights has been widely reported and reflected on by the international community, including the UN and Council of Europe organs, each of which has identified serious issues ranging from the lack of independence of the judiciary to the collapse of the main pillars of a democratic system, including separation of powers. Criticisms from these international bodies and from the international community generally have been far ranging from undue interference in fundamental rights and freedoms for political purposes to serious violation of political participation rights of the minority groups such as Kurds.1

Reflecting on the issues identified in these reports, we the undersigned organisations, call on the Turkish authorities to implement the following steps to ensure full protection of the right to a

1 See e.g. the Working Group on the United Nations Universal Periodic Review, adopted on 29 September 2020 at the 45th session of the Human Rights Council of the UN; Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee), the functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey, Report | Doc. 15272 | 21 April 2021, https://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref- XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=29155&lang=en ; World Justice Project, Rule of Law Index 2020, https://worldjusticeproject.org/our-work/research-and-data/wjp-rule-law-index-2020

fair trial in the country and to create an environment enabling effective protection of its underlying principles:

take necessary legislative and other measures to ensure the independence and impartiality of the judiciary and end all practices constituting direct interference, pressure or influence with respect to judicial conduct, including those from the executive;
implement the recommendation of the numerous human rights oversight mechanisms, including of the Human Rights Council in the UN Universal Periodic Review2 and Venice Commission,3 to introduce a constitutional amendment to make the Council of Judges and Prosecutors independent of the executive and ensure that its decisions are open to judicial review;
amend the relevant articles of the Turkish Penal Code and the Law No. 3713 on Prevention of Terrorism, that are found to be broad, vague and arbitrarily applied against critical voices, to meet the requirements of clarity and foreseeability and the principles of legal certainty and no punishment without law;
immediately end the systematic abuse, detention and prosecution of lawyers, judges, other legal professionals, journalists, human rights defenders, opposition politicians, academics and others where there is no cogent evidence of specific criminal misconduct presented in proceedings that comply with international fair trial standards;
guarantee and respect the principle of presumption of innocence in all criminal investigations and prosecutions;
stop any practices preventing enjoyment of the rights protected under international human rights treaties such as freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly, including by way of using the exercise of such freedoms as grounds for arbitrary prosecutions and lengthy and punitive pretrial detention;
ensure that the rights to fair trial embodied in article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights and article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights are respected in all criminal prosecutions in Turkey’s criminal courts at all levels;
repeal state of emergency amendments passed into law, which amendments seek to enable the dismissal of judges and prosecutors without a fair hearing and which seek to limit the rights of lawyers to discharge their professional duties, the rights of suspects to legal counsel, and the right of lawyer-client communications, as well as to impose other 2 Ibid.
3 European Commission for Democracy Through Law (Venice Commission), Draft Opinion on dhe Draft Law on Judges and Prosecutors of Turkey, 8 March 2011, opinion no 610/2011, https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/?pdf=CDL(2011)003-e

limitations on the justice system, as outlined in the report of Human Rights Watch published in April 20194;

end the practice of mass trials of lawyers, judges, journalists, opposition politicians, human rights defenders and others, in particular on bogus charges, such as the charge of membership in a terrorist organization, aimed at preventing their legitimate activities and silencing them; and
create an open dialogue with the international oversight mechanisms and national and international NGOs to address and resolve the structural human right issues in the country and, as a first step, promptly agree to requests by the UN Special Rapporteur on Judges and Lawyers and other special procedures to conduct country visits to Turkey. We call on the international community to respond effectively to the deteriorating state of human rights and rule of law in Turkey and to increase its efforts to effectively address these issues with international stakeholders for increased awareness and attention.

05/19/202105/19/2021

International Fair Trial Day 2021

The International Fair Trial Day will take place on the 14th of June 2021, from 15h to 17h45 and will include a panel discussion on the judiciary and civil society.

Please check out the: Agenda of the meeting

05/14/202105/14/2021

Webinar: Videoconference within the Asylum procedure

Webinar: Videoconference within the Asylum Procedure

Date: 27 may. 2021 20:00
Zoom link:
https://zoom.us/j/94967511847?pwd=OTQ3aW9LUjErTC9iWGRFQUg0LzlOdz09
Meeting ID: 949 6751 1847
Access code: 535239

The webinar will discuss a succesful ruling of the Belgian Council of State against the use of videoconferences in asylum procedures.

The sentence is available in French and English

This webinar-series critically highlights interesting case law, legal developments in Europe in Asylum and Migration Law. We invite Lawyers to present interesting cases in order to share experiences and connect. We want to discuss the legal arguments but also the political context.

The aim of these webinars is to share practical experiences and to start a European, and global, communication amongst Lawyers concernig Migration and Asylum.

We are convinced we should organise strong positions amongst Lawyers to resist Fortress Europe and for the right of the freedom of movement.

03/28/202103/28/2021

JUSTICE FOR EL HIBLU 3

A reminder of the second anniversary of the rescue and subsequent detention of young migrants called El Hiblu 3

In Malta, three young migrants risk life imprisonment for having helped fellow asylum seekers to escape and be rescued from the serious risk of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, rape, exploitation and killings in refugee camps in Libya.

On 28 March 2019 a cargo ship called El Hiblu 1 rescued over 100 migrants, including 20 women and at least 15 children who were fleeing Libya in a crowded dinghy in severe distress in the Mediterranean. However, when the migrants were told they would be shipped back to Libya, despair and panic set in. They made it clear that they risked death on return. Amnesty International has reported that the rescued people never took any violent action against the captain or crew members. Three youths, aged 15, 16 and 19 at the time interpreted for the chief officer of the ship to calm the panicked passengers. At the end of the rescue the ship docked in Malta.

These three teenagers were immediately arrested on disembarkation, and subsequently detained until November 2019, when they were released on bail. They are known as the El Hiblu 3. They have been investigated by the Maltese Authorities for several serious offences which carry sentences of up to 30 years in prison, including terrorism. 2 years later the bill of indictment has not yet been presented on Court.

Since November 2019 they must register every day at a police station, they are under a strict curfew and attend a Court hearing every month, as part of the investigation procedure. Police and crew members have already given evidence to the investigation, but it was only on 4 March 2021 that a survivor from the boat was able to give an eye-witness account of events on the day. The next hearing is on 15^th April 2021.

Libya is acknowledged both in international and European law as not being a >place of safety< to which migrants can be sent back. International maritime law of the sea requires anyone rescued at sea to be brought to a >place of safety< both by the ships which rescue people, and the government agencies co-ordinating the rescue.

Furthermore, the EU Member States are obliged to comply with the Geneva Refugee Convention (principle of non-refoulment) and the European Convention on Human Rights: protection against torture, inhuman and degrading treatment is an absolute right which cannot be restricted under any circumstances. This also includes not being complicit in enabling human rights violations by bringing people into Libya’s sphere of rule. Any instruction by a State to require rescued people to be returned to a state where they are at risk of human rights abuses is unlawful and fails to comply with several international and European Laws.

On the one hand, non-state vessels and captains are obliged to obey orders of the entity coordinating the rescue operation on the other they are bound by international laws of the sea and the national constitution and domestic laws of their state of origin not to become a partner in crime and not to obey unlawful instructions violating international and human rights law.

International law over the past decade has established that faced with such a contradiction, international law trumps that of the state where domestic state instructions would violate that law.

“The justification of acts done pursuant to orders does not exist if the order was of such nature that a man of ordinary sense and understanding would know it to be illegal.” (United States v. Keenan, Court of Military Appeals, 39 C.M.R. 108, 110 (1969))

Two of the El Hiblu 3 have been minors at the time of the alleged offence and therefore recognised as vulnerable children with special needs and rights whose best interests should be considered in any ongoing legal proceedings.

The migrants on board El Hiblu 1 ship acted to defend their rights in international law as outlined above, in particular their right to be free from the serious risk of torture, rape, slavery and other inhuman and degrading treatment, should they be forcibly returned to Libya.

On this second anniversary of the rescue and detention of the El Hiblu 3:

The International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the European Democratic Lawyers and the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights call on the Maltese Authorities to

Fully implement their obligations under International Law and European Human Rights Law
Observe the obligations arising under both the UN and the European Conventions on the Rights of the Child
Respect the right of justified self-defence against unlawful acts subjecting people to torture, rape, slavery and other cruel and inhuman treatment forbidden in international and human rights law
Ensure that fair trial guarantees are fully upheld. Respect the right to justified self-defence against unlawful acts as defined by Article 3(2) ECHR and against rape and slavery, as forbidden in international and human rights law
Ensure that the defendants have adequate access to all their rights without any restriction
Stop any co-operation with Libya to return refugees, ensuring respect for their rights in Malta

JUSTICE FOR THE EL HIBLU 3 !

European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights
European Democratic Lawyers
International Association of Democratic Lawyers
Progressive Lawyers Association (Turkey)
Evelyn Durmayer, IADL permanent representative at the United Nations in Vienna (Austria)
Center of Elaboration and Research on Democracy/Group of International Legal Intervention (CRED/GILI) (Italy)
National Association of Democratic Lawyers of South Africa
Republikanischer Anwältinnen- und Anwälteverein e. V. (RAV)
Asociación Libre de Abogadas y Abogados (ALA-Madrid)
The Catalan Association for the Defense of Human Rights (ACDDH – Catalonia)
Legal Team Italia
Syndicat des Avocats Pour la Démocratie (SAD) (Belgium)
National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (Philippines)
Associazione Nazionale Giuristi Democratici (Italy)
Ukraine Association of Democratic Lawyers
Vereinigung Demokratischer Juristinnen und Juristen e.V. (VDJ) (Germany)
Swiss Democratic Lawyers
Ένωση Δικηγόρων για την Υπεράσπιση των Θεμελιωδών Δικαιωμάτων” (Lawyers’ Association for the Defence of Fundamental Rights) (Greece)
The National Lawyers Guild International Committee (U.S.)
Legal Centre Lesvos (Greece)
Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers (U.K.)

03/07/202103/10/2021

Call to Solidarity

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS ATTACKED DURING SOLIDARITY ACTIONS FOR THE RESPECT OF THE LAW FOR THE HUNGER STRIKER DIMITRIS KOUFONTINAS

LAWYERS’ BLOCK GETS REPEATEDLY BEATEN BY THE POLICE FORCES

During the last weeks, the hunger strike of the life prisoner Dimitris Koufontinas, member of the “Revolutionary Organization 17 November”, has given rise to a series of legal debates and solidarity actions all over Greece, demanding the respect of the law and his transfer to the Korydallos prison, as per the legal provisions in force.

The Greek government has contested the mobilization in favor of Dimitris Koufontinas with an unprecedented level of suppression of the constitutional right to assembly and to the freedom of expression: demonstrations were dispersed minutes before they even began, while in parallel the Facebook pages of persons and organizations were massively blocked when they circulated information or comments regarding the hunger strike, or even mentioned the name of Dimitris Koufontinas, on the basis that they breached the community standards.

Greek lawyers have increasingly participated in these events, proving their strong commitment to fundamental rights. On February 24th some 50 lawyers organized a gathering in front of the Ministry of Justice, while a committee composed of representatives of the Alternative Initiative (a left-wing union of the Bar Association of Athens) and of our Lawyers’ Union for the Defense of Fundamental Rights was received by the Secretary of Justice and handed over to him a letter of protest signed by 1.000 lawyers. It should be noted that while the Greek National Commission for Human Rights -the instrument established by the law as the independent advisory body to the Greek State in human rights’ issues- and the Association of Greek Judges and Prosecutors signed resolutions in favor of a humanitarian and fair handling of the claims of D. Koufontinas, most of the Bar Associations of Greece, including that of Athens were reluctant to act similarly.

Following this first action, the “Initiative of Lawyers and Jurists” was formed spontaneously, calling to daily demonstrations during the whole week and participating in them with a distinct block, while the hunger striker’s health has been significantly deteriorating every day. It was on Friday, March 5th, when the government decided to disperse the demonstration of peaceful lawyers and attacked them totally unreasoned with water cannons and tear gas. Although this escalation was met with a wave of protests, the police repeated their brutality on Saturday morning, attacking the new demonstration once more, even before the citizens had an opportunity to start protesting. It is important to note that the lawyers participating in the protest, clearly declaring their legal capacity, were among the first to be deterred to even begin the demonstration, with the extended use of water cannons.

The official statement of the police, as stated below, is a milestone in the country’s transition to a new era of disproportionate police violence and clear disrespect of constitutional rights:

“At 12.00 today (Saturday, March 6, 2021), on the initiative of the “assembly of solidarity to the hunger striker D. Koufontina” and other associations, gathered (200) people in the area of Syntagma Square and tried to occupy the road of Filellinon Street.

The police forces, who rushed immediately, repulsed them using the necessary means, so that there would be no further escalation.

Subsequently, groups of protesters tried to occupy the road first on Stadiou Street, then on Panepistimiou and Akadimias Streets, obstructing the traffic of vehicles and pedestrians. And in these new efforts, the police forces repulsed them using the necessary means.

The groups of those gathered left in different directions at 13.15.

(29) people were detained by the police forces.

The traffic was obstructed for 15 minutes in a section of Stadiou and Panepistimiou streets.

The following video makes pretty clear what the Greek police understands under “necessary means”:

https://www.facebook.com/561137318/videos/10158867095812319/

These attacks signal a serious breach of fundamental rights as well as a repression against lawyers, paving the way towards unknown totalitarian attitudes.

We demand:

Respect of constitutional rights

End of police brutality

We stand in solidarity with the lawyers in Greece!

Keep your hands off the lawyers!

Signatures

European Democratic Lawyers (AED – EDL)
Ένωση Δικηγόρων για την Υπεράσπιση των Θεμελιωδών Δικαιωμάτων (Ελλάδα)
Legal Team Italia (Ιταλία)
VSAN-Vereniging Sociale Advocatuur Nederland (Ολλανδία
ÇHD – Progressive Lawyers’ Association (Τουρκία)
RAV – Republikanischer Anwältinnen- und Anwälteverein (Γερμανία)
European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH)
Giuristi Democratici (Ιταλία)
Legal Centre Lesvos
Evelyn Durmayer, IADL permanent representative at the United Nations in Vienna (Austria)
Catalan Association for the Defense of Human Rights (ACDDH)
the National Association of Democratic Lawyers of South Africa
the Center for Research and Elaboration on Democracy/Group of International Legal Intervention (CRED/GIGI)
International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL)
Portugueses Association of Democratic Lawyers
Ομάδα δικηγόρων για τα Δικαιώματα Προσφύγων και Μεταναστών/Group of Lawyers for the Rights of Migrants and Refugees (Athens)
Ukrainian Association of Democratic Lawyers
American Association of Jurists
Özgürlük için Hukukçular Derneği (ÖHD)
Hellenic Action for Human Rights “Pleiades”/ Ελληνική Δράση για τα ΑΝθρώπινα Δικαιώματα”Πλειάδες” (Greece)
Lawyers WIthout BordersGreece/ Δικηγόροι χωρίς Σύνορα Ελλάδας
DYYAD – Network for the Support of Human Rights Defenders/ ΔΥΥΑΔ – Δίκτυο Υποστήριξης Υπερασπιστών Ανθρωπίνων Δικαιωμάτων (Greece)
Εναλλακτικη Παρεμβαση Δικηγόρων Αθήνας/ Alternative Intervention, Greece
Legal support team/Ομάδα Νομικής Υποστήριξης “Ως Δαμέ” (Cyprus)

02/23/202102/23/2021

International Fair Trial Day

The right to a fair trial has long been recognised by the international community as a fundamental human right. Without a fair trial every individual risks becoming the victim of a miscarriage of justice. Either as an innocent suspect wrongly convicted, or as a victim unable to secure justice for a wrong perpetrated against them.

Ebru Timtik was one of 18 lawyers in Turkey who were members of the Progressive Lawyers Association, some of which were working at the People’s Law Office, made subject to a prosecution in the Istanbul 37^th Assize Court under Articles 314 and 220 of the Turkish Penal Code for terrorist offences. She and her colleagues were convicted on 20 March 2019 after a trial during which basic procedural safeguards and internationally recognised fair trial principles were ignored. Her conviction was based on the testimony of anonymous witnesses, many of which gave inconsistent testimony in relation to alleged facts and time periods. Documents allegedly obtained from government authorities in Belgium and Holland were never authenticated but they were nevertheless used as grounds for convictions without her lawyers having access to them. The originals of digital documents which were allegedly seized in a musical centre were also not made available to the defence lawyers. They could not see, analyse or challenge these documents which were never shown to have existed. Lawyers acting in her defence were frequently prevented from participating in the proceedings and in some circumstances were excluded.

The defects in the trial process led Ebru Timtik together with one of her colleagues, Aytaç Ünsal, to commence a “death fast” following a hunger strike which began on 5 April 2020, the Turkish “Day of the Lawyer”. Sadly, on 27 August 2020 Ebru Timtik died whilst continuing to protest both her innocence of the charges on which she had been convicted, and the lack of respect for fundamental fair trial principles in the criminal justice system which had prejudiced both her and her colleagues, and many thousands of other individuals in Turkey.

In recognition of her sacrifice, and in order to focus attention on the plight of those in countries around the globe who are facing prosecution in circumstances where fair trial principles are not being observed or respected, a number of international bar associations and lawyers organisations have come together to arrange an annual “International Fair Trial Day” which will be observed every year on 14 June.

Steps are also being undertaken to introduce a new annual Ebru Timtik Award to recognise an individual or an organisation who has or which has made an exceptional contribution towards securing fair trial rights in the country on which the International Fair Trial Day is focusing for the year in question. Each year a conference will be held, either online or at a physical location in a country chosen because of the level of concern with regard to the lack of respect for fair trial rights in that jurisdiction at that time. There will also be events in the countries across the word on each International Fair Trial Day to raise awareness of the situation in the focus country. The steering group consisting of Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH), European Bars Federation (FBE), European Democratic Lawyers (EDL-AED), French National Bar Council (CNB), International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), International Association of Lawyers (UIA), International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), Italian National Bar Council (CNF), Law Society of England and Wales, Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L), Ayşe Bingöl Demir and Serife Ceren Uysal agreed that the first conference will be held as a virtual event on 14 June 2021 and will focus on fair trial rights in Turkey.

02/17/2021

Sign and make vaccines & treatments a global public good

2020 was a year of remarkable human acts of solidarity.

Be it from doing groceries for vulnerable neighbours to scientists working day and night to find a solution to end all of this.

Luckily, we can start 2021 with the hope of being close to a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine.

However, there are still lots of unanswered questions.

Pharmaceutical companies refuse to share their knowledge, although their research was funded with public money.

In fact, we risk paying millions for Big Pharma’s profits, money needed for our health systems. 90% of people in the lowest income countries likely won’t receive a vaccine in the next year.

We need to keep vaccines and treatments against COVID-19 affordable, safe and accessible to all.

That’s why AED-EDL supports the Right to Cure European Citizens’ Initiative.

We need 1 million signatures to make the European Commission assure that future COVID-19 vaccines and treatments will be a global public good, freely accessible to everyone, and drop deadly patents on life-saving vaccines and treatments.

Sign the European Citizens Initiative

COVID-19 spreads like wildfire. Solutions must travel even faster. No one is safe until everyone has access to safe and effective treatments and vaccines.

We all have the right to a cure

02/17/2021

The Crisis of Rule Law in the European Migration Regime

Day by day, the European crisis of rule of law is continuously entrenching. The most obvious aspect is the scandalous situation of migrants and refugees.

As lawyers we are deeply concerned about this disrespect of the rule of law in Europe. In all member states we observe practices of illegal returns of refugees, pushbacks, inhuman conditions on the Greek or Spanish islands, violations of core procedural guarantees resulting in a denial of the most basic protection of refugees.

European Institutions and Governments of EU member states allow and later regulate unlawful practices concerning the rights of refugees and migrants.

The European Pact on Asylum and Migration proposed by the European Commission in September 2020 is not an answer. The proposed weekly monitoring mechanisms are not instruments strong enough to counter the illegal practices of Frontex or of European States. As lawyers we reject the European perception of migration and the search of protection as a mere „problem to solve“ once for all.

States violating human rights such as Turkey and Libya should not receive any support under the mask of “European solidarity and support of third states”. The European Union bears responsibility for the situation in these states as well.

Colonial type agreements and arrangements with politically and economically weaker states of Africa are not in the interest of these nations nor do they fulfill the responsibility of EU to protect refugees.

Hidden agreements such as the EU-Turkey Statement illustrate the lack of democracy in the EU and set the base for the systematic violation of core international and EU laws. States like Turkey, a main actor in the conflict inside Syria and responsible directly and/or indirectly of war crimes and gross human rights abuses and violations, use such arrangements in order to enhance their geopolitical bargaining power and uses refugees as pawns.

We call on our societies to oppose this fundamental attack on the rule of law.

We demand:

– that externalization policies and methods transferring the responsibility to protect refugees to third states stop immediately;

– that the European Commission open proceedings for treaty violations against Hungary and Greece and any Member State who collaborates in treaty violations;

– that the Frontex Agency be dismantled immediately and that those responsible for illegal activities be brought before justice.

– that reception facilities and asylum procedures respect human dignity, as well as the free choice of refugees to decide where to search for protection within Europe.

13^th of February 2021

Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Berlin, Athens, Istanbul, Izmir

02/15/202102/15/2021

We demand the immediate transfer of Dimitris Koufodinas to Korydallos Prison

Dimitris Koufodinas is serving multiple life sentences after being convicted as a member of the “Revolutionary Organization November 17th” (17N).

From 2002 onwards Dimitris Koufodinas was permanently detained in a special underground wing of the Korydallos prison (Athens) until he was transferred to the Volos agricultural detention facility in 2018. Although he had been entitled to temporary prison leaves since 2010, he was granted the first one in 2017 (and five more times thereafter). Since spring 2019, Koufodinas’ temporary prison leave has been denied on grounds of his political beliefs and his refusal to express remorse – something that is not a reason for refusing prison leave under Greek law, confirmed in 2019 by the Areos Pagos, the highest Greek court.

Last autumn a law was passed with a provision that those convicted of “terrorist” crimes are excluded from custody leave and from serving their sentences in agricultural prisons. The only convict of this category who was in an agricultural prison was Koufodinas. During the legislative debate in Parliament, he was personally named as the addressee of this law.

On December 23, 2020, Koufodinas was transferred from the agricultural prison to Domokos prison. There he was locked together with two other prisoners in a suffocating small cell.

Dimitris Koufodinas, now 63 years old, is experiencing an essential worsening in his detention conditions, with severe consequences for his mental and physical health (the latter is weakened because of the hunger strikes to which he proceeded in the past).

The transfer to Domokos prison violated even the provisions of the aforementioned “anti-him-only” law, as he should have been returned to Korydallos, where he had been held for the first 16 years of his imprisonment. The ministry issued a written confirmation with false claims. Accordingly, he was moved to Korydallos and then with a new decision to Domokos, but in reality he was driven straight away to Domokos.

After the deliberately inaccurate confirmation of the Ministry, on Jan 8, 2021 Dimitris Koufontinas decided to protest against these methods and to demand to be transferred to Korydallos, as provided for in the recent law, and to go on hunger strike. His health condition has deteriorated rapidly since.

Today he is under medical observation in the Lamia hospital since from time to time he loses consciousness. We call for the transfer of Dimitris Koufontinas to the Korydallos Prison and to end his systematically discriminatory treatment.

Athens, 13^th of February 2021

01/22/202101/25/2021