European Democratic Lawyers
How to show solidarity with the situation of lawyers in Turkey? Most of the initiatives of the next months have been cancelled or postponed, to explore the possibilities of continuing our political work you are invited to participate in a zoom conference on Thursday 2nd of April.
Avocates et avocats de France en grève : on est là !
Depuis plus de 6 semaines, les avocates et avocats de France sont en grève contre le projet du Gouvernement de réduire leurs droits à la retraite.
Le système de retraite des avocates et avocats en France est un exemple de solidarité entre eux, quels que soient leur mode d’exercice et leur situation économique. Ce régime bénéficiaire participe également à la solidarité avec les autres professions, sans corporatisme.
Malgré cela, le projet du Gouvernement aura pour conséquence d’augmenter considérablement le montant de leurs cotisations et de réduire leurs pensions de retraite.
Cette augmentation des cotisations pèsera principalement sur la moitié des avocates et avocats ayant les revenus les plus bas.
C’est pourtant cette partie de la profession qui assure l’accès aux droits du plus grand nombre : la défense pénale pour tous, le droit de la famille, des mineurs, des consommateurs, des locataires, des travailleurs, des étrangers,…
L’augmentation des cotisations rendra impossible économiquement l’exercice de la profession et réduira drastiquement l’accès aux droits pour toutes et tous !
Derrière la réforme des retraites, c’est un projet de société que défend le Gouvernement Français : celui de l’argent roi, de la loi du plus fort, de l’écrasement des plus faibles ; une atteinte à la solidarité.
Le combat des avocates et avocats en France est, pour nous, avocates et avocats européens, un combat emblématique pour un autre projet de société.
Aujourd’hui, les avocates et avocats européens regardent avec fierté les avocates et avocats de France défendre la place de la défense dans la société et leur apportent tout leur soutien.
Barcelone, Colmar, le 15 février 2020
——
Lawyers from France on strike: we’re here!
For more than 6 weeks, lawyers in France have been on strike against the Government’s plan to reduce their pension rights.
Lawyers’ retirement system in France is an example of solidarity amongst lawyers, whatever their type of practice and their economic situation. Furthermore, this pension scheme also contributes to solidarity with other professions, without corporatism.
Despite this, the Government’s plan will result in a considerable increase in the amount of their contributions and a reduction in their retirement pensions. This increase in contributions will mainly affect lawyers with the lowest incomes, nearly half of all lawyers in France.
It is, however, this part of the profession that ensures access to the rights of the greatest number: criminal defence for all, family law, law for minors, consumers, tenants, workers, foreigners, etc. The increase in pension contribution fees will make it economically unviable to exercise the profession and will drastically reduce access to rights for all!
Behind the pension reform, the French government defends a social project: that of the reign of money, the law of the strongest, the crushing of the weakest; an attack on solidarity. The fight of lawyers in France is, for us European lawyers, an emblematic fight for another social project.
Today, European lawyers proudly watch French lawyers defend the place of defence in society and give them their full support.
Barcelona, Colmar, 15th of February 2020
After years of persecution and resistance, the CHD has decided to renew
the association.
ÇAĞDAŞ HUKUKÇULAR DERNEĞİ ORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY
CONCLUDING STATEMENT
“WE ARE HERE SINCE 1974”
Our Association was closed down by the government in 2016. We had then announced that this was not a legitimate decision for us; we would not accept it. When our offices were looted, and the doors of our offices were locked up and sealed, “ÇHD does not exist merely in the offices”, we said. As we account for the hard process we have gone through we have the honor to keep to our word.
We are honored, that is correct. However, we are not surprised with the seamless will to struggle of our Association as well as its attitude in the face of the contemporary of state of affairs in our country. For this outcome comes naturally out of the power and legitimacy of our tradition. It is equally the immediate result of our faith in and aspiration for a just, free, classless world that does not welcome exploitation. In this process, some of our valued Bu members were held captive; they were tortured; they were convicted to ten year-long imprisonment. But we have persisted to convey to our friends and foes, to Turkey and to the whole world that another lawyering practice is possible and that ÇHD will never and ever withdraw from opting for this practice.
The Conference that we organized within the scope of the Ordinary General Assembly, on January 18, 2020 was turned into a vibrant platform for struggle where our decisiveness, our will to solidarity and resistance came to the fore, showing the impossibility to end the ÇHD by despotic measures.
The Ordinary General Assembly also showed that the ÇHD is not alone in its struggle; that it has hundreds of comrades who would join the struggle for a just world. The messages of friendship and solidarity, sent by many lawyers’ organizations to our Association are examples of this. The messages that we received from the workers in the tents of struggle, from the families of Soma miners, from the families of Çorlu train massacre, from the families of our friends who were taken from us in the October 10 Train Station massacre and in Gezi resistance once more confirmed the historical importance of the lawyering practice of the ÇHD. The messages of friendship, comradeship and solidary that we received from our colleagues in Italy, Portuguese, United States, Phillippines, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Asia-Pacific countries, Catalonia, Greece who struggle with similar faith and decisiveness also showed the extent of our reach throughout the world, that we are part of a global comradeship. In this respect, the first conclusion that we have is as follows: We claim each and every concern of social opposition in the world, in general, and in Turkey, in particular! We claim the concern of each and every resistance tent, strike, boycott, the demands of a body, vanishing for justice, the demands of women, resisting on the streets, the demands of our colleagues in France, throwing their robes, the claims of the lawyers in Pakistan – our comrades who were killed – all our claims, too! They claim ours! The hope for free, just and bright features lies in such true solidarity.
“The Crisis of Capitalism, the Crisis Law”
The Ordinary Constitutive Assembly that we held under the title, “Crrisis of Capitalism, the Crisis Law” opened a space where we could underline the social dynamics of the present historical period and discuss the agendas of social opposition – to which the ÇHD has been a historical party – and the requisites brought in by these agendas. Many members of our Association have contributed significantly to these discussions with their presentations.
Assessing the presentations and discussions together we reached the following conclusions:
In the light of these statements and decisions, our General Assembly considers the letter sent by Selçuk Kozağaçlı as a statement and announces the following decisions:
From now on, ÇHD shall continue with its solidarity acts in the past, and “shall take its place in strike tents, in front of the morgues, in the faculty boycotts, behind the barricades, in front of the queues. ÇHD shall concern not to be more intelligent than the ones with whom we struggle together but to turn the potential to fight together, to trust to each other into action in order to weave an axis of struggle.”
ÇHD Ordinary General Assembly is determined to show that, “to be nuts is preferable than to be obedient”! For it us who claims the reputation to be the nuts, to pursue the impossible and not to hesitate to tresspass; we shall not turn it over to anyone!
ÇHD IS HERE; IT WILL ALWAYS BE HERE!
The AED-EDL expresses its firm condemnation of Turkish military
operations aiming at the invasion of Northern Syria-Rojava.
This invasion has the sole purpose of putting an end to the experience
of the North-East Syrian Democratic Autonomous Administration, and will
cause suffering and mourning primarily in the civilian population.
The Autonomous Administration was born of the common struggle of the
people of North-East Syria, in all their ethnic and religious components
(not only Kurds but also Arabs, Armenians, Turkmen, Chechens, Yazidi,
Alevi, Muslims, Christians) against ISIS while experimenting a new model
of real democratic coexistence.
The invasion of the Turkish troops with the consent of the American
President, aims to annihilate this political project while terrorizing
and massacring, not only those who valiantly fought and beat the ISIS
but also the civilian population.
This invasion risks returning the area to a reconstitution of the
Islamic State.
Realpolitik cannot justify the inertia towards this crime of countries
that proclaim themselves democratic.
We strongly ask that the European Governments:
– Condemn the aggression of the people living in this region: Kurds,
Arabs, Armenians, Turkmen, Chechens, Yazidi, Alevi, Muslims, Christians
– Impose with immediate effect a ban on arms trade with Turkey
As peace and justice are under threat as result of this military
operation, we demand:
– the immediate suspension of the EU-Turkey agreement, because Turkey is
not a safe third country;
– the resettlement of refugees from Turkey to Europe
We express our solidarity with our Kurdish and Turkish colleagues whose
working and living conditions will be even worse in a state of war. We
also want to show our solidarity to all the Turkish citizens who in
spite of the new wave of repression, protest against this military
aggression. Furthermore, we express our solidarity to the people of the
region, asking from now for an international investigation of the facts.
Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Colmar, Madrid, Milan,
Paris, Rome, Toulouse, Turin….2019
Le 8 novembre 2018 s’est tenue au Tribunal de grande instance de Gap, l’audience correctionnelle des 7 de Briançon, poursuivis pour aide à l’entrée irrégulière sur le territoire français de quelques migrants lors d’une manifestation pour la liberté de circulation et contre les initiatives du groupe d’extrême-droite et raciste, Génération identitaire. Ce groupe avait organisé un blocage illégal de la frontière franco-italienne de Clavière-Montgenèvre sans être inquiété.
Les avocats de l’Association des avocats européens démocrates ont assisté à cette audience pour soutenir les 7 de Briançon.
Nous, Avocats européens démocrates, sommes fortement préoccupés pour la criminalisation qui, de plus en plus, s’étend en France, mais aussi en Italie, en Hongrie, en Belgique et dans plusieurs Pays européens, contre les migrants et ceux qui se montrent activement solidaires avec eux.
Nous avons trouvé une ville et, surtout, un Palais de justice en quasi état de siège, signe d’une séparation entre l’institution judiciaire et la société civile, de l’expression d’une justice craignant toute contestation possible et marquant une crise de la démocratie qui nous inquiète.
Lors de cette audience, dans le cadre de la défense des droits fondamentaux des prévenus, les avocats ont dénoncé les violations des droits des migrants à la frontière franco-italienne et la xénophobie et les atteintes à la démocratie de Génération Identitaire, qui n’a à ce jour pas été poursuivi pour ces actes d’atteintes à l’Etat de droit.
Malgré l’abandon par le Procureur de la République de la circonstance aggravante de « bande organisée », ce qui permet de faire baisser la peine encourue de 10 à 5 ans de prison, ce dernier a toutefois requis des peines allant de 6 mois de prison avec sursis à 12 mois dont 4 fermes, pour des actes élémentaires de solidarité.
Ce procès et ces réquisitions sont significatifs de l’extension en Europe de ce climat d’utilisation de la justice contre des militants et cela nous préoccupe au plus haut point.
Alors que les actions ouvertement marquées par le racisme, la xénophobie et le fascisme semblent de plus en plus admises, ceux qui s’opposent à ces dérives et mettent en œuvre des actions solidarité aux migrants font l’objet de graves poursuites et accusations ; qu’ils interviennent en mer pour sauver les migrants de la noyade ou à la frontière interne franco-italiennes pour leur éviter de mourir de froid ou de chutes.
Nous souhaitons que l’Autorité Judiciaire puisse in fine rendre aux faits contestés des “7 de Briançon” leur profonde valeur humaniste et reconnaître que ces actions ne peuvent ni doivent être considérées comme des délits
In Solidarity
7 November 2018
Once again, a Philippine colleague has been murdered: Atty. Benjamin Tarug Ramos was shot dead in Kabankalan last night by motorcycle riding men. He died from three gunshot wounds.
This is not the first time. Since 2015, the Association for European Democratic Lawyers (AED) has been denouncing the situation in the Philippines. The cold blooded murder of human rights defenders in the hand of motorcycle mercenarios is unfortunately a recurring theme. In the past, the government has shown no zeal in the investigations.
Atty. Benjamin Tarug Ramos was the Secretary General of the National Union of Philippine Lawyers in the region of Negros, and a well known pro bono lawyer of peasants, environmentalists, activists, political prisoners and mass organizations in Negros.
Any attack against defenders/attorneys for their professional work threatens fundamental and civil rights, and shows the quality of democracy.
To his family, his colleagues and friends goes our solidarity.
To the NUPL, all our support in their fight for a more just and democratic society in the Philippines.
—
For more information on the NUPL, visit their site.
For more information on human rights abuses of lawyers, please read our letter to the Philippine ambassador 4 years ago
On the 20th of October the AED organized a European Colloquium in Turin.
Here are the interventions in their original language:
L’Associazione Avvocati Democratici Europei riunitasi a Torino nei giorni 19 e 20 ottobre 2018 , in occasione del Convegno Internazionale “Nuove pratiche di repressione dei movimenti sociali in Europa e strategie legali di difesa ” esprime la piena solidarietà a Mimmo Lucano ritenendo il cosiddetto “MODELLO RIACE ” massima espressione dei veri valori costituzionali propri dell’Italia e dell’ Europa, condannando la criminalizzazione adottata illegittimamente contro il suo operato .
Auspica una rapida e posiitiva definizione del procedimento penale in corso, affinché possa al più presto ricoprire nuovamente la carica di Sindaco e Riace possa tornare a rappresentare un modello di accoglienza basata sul rispetto dei diritti umani .
The Association of European Democratic Lawyers (AED-EDL) meeting in Turin on the 19th and 20th of October 2018, on the occasion of the International Conference “New practices of repression of social movements in Europe and legal defense strategies” expresses full solidarity with Mimmo Lucano, the mayor of Riace.
The so-called “RIACE Model” he has helped create is the maximum expression of the true constitutional values of Italy and Europe. It condemns the criminalization adopted illegitimately against his work.
The AED hopes for a rapid and positive definition of the ongoing criminal proceedings, so that he can soon re-occupy the position of Mayor and Riace can again represent a model of acceptance based on respect for human rights.
OUR COLLEAGUES ARRESTED IN PRE-TRIAL DETENTION HAVE BEEN RELEASED BUT, A FEW HOURS LATER AND AFTER THE PROSECUTOR’S APPEAL, A NEW ARREST WARRANT HAS BEEN ISSUED BY THE SAME COURT FOR 15 OF THEM.
A mission of the AED – EDL, composed by Italian, Spanish, Catalonian, Dutch and French lawyers: Simonetta CRISCI, Gilberto PAGANI, Ezio MENZIONE, Raffaella MULTEDO, Rossella SANTO, Robert SABATA, Adrià FONT, Hanno BOS and Florian BORG have been observing the aforementioned trial against our colleagues, the lawyers Ahmet MANDACI, Aycan ÇİÇEK, Ayşegül ÇAĞATAY, Aytaç ÜNSAL, Barkın TİMTİK, Behiç AŞÇI, Didem BAYDAR ÜNSAL, Ebru TİMTİK, Engin GÖKOĞLU, Naciye DEMİR, Özgür YILMAZ, Süleyman GÖKTEN, Şükriye ERDEN, Yağmur EREREN EVİN, Yaprak TÜRKMEN, Zehra ÖZDEMİR, Ezgi ÇAKIR, Selçuk KOZAĞAÇLI (President of the ÇHD), Günay DAĞ and Oya ASLAN who are members of the Progressive Lawyers Association (Çağdaş Hukukçular Derneği, ÇHD). The majority of them are simultaneously lawyers working for the People’s Law Office (Halkın Hukuk Bürosu, HHB).
Seventeen lawyers were under pre-trial detention until yesterday, when the Court decided to free them under several measures. Even though the decision was announced at the evening, they were physically released today (7.00 am, in the morning). Selçuk Kozağaçlı and Yaprak Türkmen were under incomunicado pre-trial detention. All of them faced very difficult situations in jail. During the hearing, they described in detail the physical attacks they faced during their pre-trial detention process. Among the lawyers who were detained Selçuk Kozağaçlı and Yaprak Türkmen were kept in the High Security Prison of İstanbul in Silivri and the remaining15 lawyers were sent to prisons in six different cities, outside the sphere of jurisdiction and far from their families, without any reason.
But after the Prosecutor’s objection, the same court issued a few hours later new arrest warrants against 15 of them.
Once again, the actions undertaken by Prosecutors and Courts against Lawyers are definitely jeopardizing the Rule of Law in Turkey. The Court released the lawyers on the account they were professionals exercising their profession and because the length of the Pre-trial detention had been denounced by a large number of Humans Rights organisations. Astonishingly, with the exact same arguments the Court has decided to issue new arrest warrants.
We express great concern about this decision, evidently taken under political pressure on the judiciary.
In his bill of indictment, the prosecutor accused Barkın TİMTİK and Özgür YILMAZ of “forming and directing an illegal organization” (they are facing 20 to 22.5 years of jail – in accordance with the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) 314/1, Law No.: 3737 5/1), and the other defendants were accused of “membership in an illegal organization” (with jail for 7.5 years to 20 years – in accordance with TCK 314/2, Law No.: 3713 5/1). The proof against them is slight.
It appears inacceptable that:
It is our consideration, that lawyers are here unfairly attacked for taking a stand in defence of Fundamental Rights and Liberties. We remind the Turkish authorities that the BASIC PRINCIPLES ON THE ROLE OF LAWYERS adopted by the 8th United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, which took place in Havana, Cuba from the 27th of August to the 7th September 1990, enshrine the necessary Guarantees for the correct functioning of this professional activity.
18. Lawyers shall not be identified with their clients or their clients’ causes as a result of discharging their functions.
The Turkish authorities have taken for granted that, as enshrined by the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers (22nd of August 2016), associations of lawyers, together with non-governmental organizations, should build networks to act in coordination and solidarity to defend and protect lawyers from attacks. So professional associations of lawyers like ÇHD have a vital role to play in upholding professional standards and ethics, protecting their members from persecution and improper restrictions and infringements.
We urge the Turkish authorities to take account of these very serious concerns with the aim to avoid future human rights violations during the very difficult period Turkey is going through at the moment. Recently, the state of emergency was lifted, but that will not be enough to reverse this repressive trend on an upward trajectory. Systematic action is needed to restore respect for human rights, enable civil society to regain its momentum and ease the climate of suffocating fear that has swept the country.
Yet, despite the repression, lawyers demand justice and equality, at the risk of being unfairly punished for taking a stand, guided by their deep commitment to human rights, justice and freedom. Instead of punishing them, Turkey should be proud of these people who form a vibrant and brilliant human rights community.
As jurists we cannot accept this harassment of our colleagues and human rights defenders. Sadly, there is a long tradition of attacking the defence in Turkey. So, we make a call upon Turkish authorities to prevent the development of intimidation against lawyers and humans rights defenders.
Colmar, 15th September 2018,
AED (Avocats Européens Démocrates / European Democratic Lawyers)