According to new instructions given to the Ministry of Justice by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the lawyers that participated in the defence of the suspects in the coup, terrorism, and organization trials may be banned from defence duties for up to two years.
The AKP government is preparing to inflict a heavy blow to one of the most important components of the judicial system: the right to a defence. New instructions from the Turkish government to the Ministry of Justice include a prohibition on serving defence duties for defence lawyers involved in the coup, terror, and organization trials.
Lawyers who took on the defence of suspects, defendants and convicted prisoners in these trials are being investigated and in the event that they receive a verdict of guilty for offences against state security, crimes against constitutional order and terrorism, they will be banned from serving defence duties in the judiciary.
LAWYER DEMİR: "THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE’S ORDER AIMS TO REMOVE THE RIGHT OF DEFENSE IN THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM"
Lawyer Özge Demir, who spoke to soL news to evaluate the AKP government’s plans to regulate the judicial system, stressed that the instructions given to the Ministry of Justice, particularly considering the period we are currently in, aim to remove the right of defence in the judicial system.
Noting that this issue has both legal and political dimensions, Demir stated that ‘‘per the limits of existing law, the Ministry of Justice cannot give orders to prosecutors. None of the relevant laws have provisions authorizing the Ministry of Justice to give orders and instructions to prosecutors or judges. Regardless of the context of the given instruction, the instruction itself is against the independence of prosecutors in judicial affairs.”
‘‘It is important to note that the lawyer will be suspended from his/her duty because of an unproved crime, and the principle of the presumption of innocence will be discounted in the new regulation of the Ministry. Above all, it is clear that the prosecutors will immediately follow the instructions of the Ministry of Justice and investigate all the lawyers of the suspects and defendants on trial for terror crimes in Turkey where the judicial independence is seriously damaged and even non-existent," Demir stated.
LAWYER AKALIN: "THIS REGULATION LEADS TO THE COLLAPSE OF THE LAW, TO LYNCH CULTURE AND TO THE JUSTICE OF THE MAFIA"
In a statement to soL news, Lawyer K. Ozan Akalın expressed that this instruction from the Ministry of Justice would mean that the right of defense will be taken from the hands of the people, and this situation would lead to the collapse of the legal system, the re-emergence of a lynch culture and a mafia system seeking its own justice.
"All the previous legal practices of and experiences under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) indicate that this regulation being introduced by the Ministry of Justice will pave the way for an arbitrary system that ignores the basic norms of the law such as the right for defence and the presumption of innocence. An investigation for crimes related to terror will be enough for the suspension of lawyers from their duties, even if these lawyers are later absolved," Akalın said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his AKP government have repeatedly intervened in the judiciary by appointing pro-government judges and prosecutors to critical cases in Turkey. After the failed July 15 coup in 2016, the AKP has attempted to purge the judicial system by eliminating members of the judiciary who are opposed to the government and who are affiliated to the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ) the prime suspect of the failed coup. The AKP had previously assigned these same judges and prosecutors, who are members of the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen religious sect– the AKP’s chief collaborator until 2013 – as judicial members to critical positions.
