05.02.2026

The convictions issued at the hearing held on 28 January 2026 in the trial, which has continued for nearly ten years before the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court, against member lawyers of the Lawyers for Freedom Association (ÖHD) and members of the Solidarity Association with Prisoners’ Families (TUAD), are unacceptable.

An investigation was launched in 2011 against TUAD members and ÖHD member lawyers. Surveillance measures were implemented for more than a year, technical devices were placed in TUAD’s office, and numerous unlawfully obtained pieces of evidence were produced without compliance with procedural safeguards. Throughout the trial, requests to exclude this unlawful evidence from the case file were rejected, while requests to obtain authorisation to investigate the lawyers on account of their professional activities were not accepted.

In 2016, detention orders were issued following the targeting of lawyers, particularly Attorney Hüseyin Boğatekin. Attorneys Ramazan Demir and Ayşe Acinikli were held in pre-trial detention for five months, while Attorney Hüseyin Boğatekin was detained for 13 days.

At the end of the ten-year-long trial, on 28 January 2026, unjust and unlawful convictions for membership in an armed organisation were issued against 37 TUAD members and 10 ÖHD member lawyers.

The rights-based advocacy carried out by TUAD members against rights violations in prisons, their press statements, and their legitimate work in 2012 to document the health conditions of prisoners on hunger strike were treated as grounds for accusation. Prison visits, trial monitoring, telephone conversations with colleagues and clients, and other professional activities undertaken by 12 ÖHD member lawyers were used as the basis for the allegations against them.

This decision demonstrates that defence work and humanitarian solidarity with prisoners are being openly punished. It reveals how the concept of membership in an organisation has become entirely arbitrary, with even the most ordinary activities being used as grounds for charges of membership in an armed organisation. Punishing lawyers for carrying out their professional duties not only constitutes an individual rights violation; it also directly targets society’s right of access to justice. Attempts to silence lawyers engaged in human rights advocacy through the threat of prosecution constitute a grave interference that undermines the fundamental safeguards of the rule of law.

As the Human Rights Defenders Solidarity Network (İHSDA), we do not accept the targeting, criminalisation, and conviction of lawyers engaged in human rights advocacy and civil society actors because of their legitimate professional activities, which contain no criminal element. We consider these judicial practices to be a serious judicial attack on fundamental rights and freedoms, and we declare to the public that we will stand in solidarity with everyone whose rights have been violated.

Human Rights Defenders Solidarity Network

Initiative for Freedom of Expression; Association for Monitoring Equal Rights; Migration Monitoring Association; Rights Initiative; Truth Justice Memory Center; Human Rights Association, Istanbul Branch; Human Rights Agenda Association; Women’s Culture, Arts and Literature Association (KASED); Women’s Time Association; Lambdaistanbul LGBTI+ Solidarity Association; Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA); Punto24 Independent Journalism Platform (P24); Civic Space Studies Association; Social Policy, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (SPoD); Nonviolent Education and Research Center; Gender Equality Solidarity Network (AĞ-DA); Foundation for Society and Legal Studies (TOHAV); Turkey Litigation Support Project (TLSP); Human Rights Foundation of Turkey; Association for Queer Research and LGBTI+ Solidarity among University Students (ÜniKuir); Yaşam Bellek Özgürlük Association; Rosa Women’s Association.