JOIN US AND TAKE ACTION!

A token of solidarity: the Greeting cards campaign

You’ve probably got a postcard, possibly a fair number of them, that are collecting dust in some drawer or shoebox. Sent by a friend, a relative or lover, carrying a touching or funny message. You didn’t recycle the card or just tore the stamp off, because it meant a lot and made a difference at that very time.

It is in this spirit that Lawyers for Lawyers annually organises a greeting cards campaign. Receiving a greeting card can mean all the difference to a lawyer in prison:  it will bolster their state of mind, it can improve their prison conditions, and in the best scenario it may even lead to release. Are you wondering if the lawyers actually receive the cards? Many of them do! A great number of lawyers expressed their gratitude to us for the cards they received from their international colleagues. So join us, and send a card to a lawyer in prison!

Instructions

Please collect the cards, send them to the post office box below, and mention the name of the lawyer you would like to address your card to on the card. Do not send any religious card or political statements and please do not close the envelop. The team of Lawyers for Lawyers will ensure that cards are forwarded to the lawyer addressed on each card!

Lawyers for Lawyers
Greeting cards
Postbus 7113
1007 JC Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Who can you write to?

Claudia Gonzalez from Guatemala

Claudia González Orellana, lawyer from Guatemala and the Lawyers for Lawyers Award 2023 laureate, is a former representative of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CIGIC). As a lawyer, she represented nine of her former CIGIC-colleagues who are criminally prosecuted. Due to her work, she has been subjected to online harassment on social networks and threatened with legal action. On 28 August 2023, she was arrested and charged with the crime of abuse of authority. The arrest followed a search of her home ordered by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Prior to her arrest, Claudia had made several visits to the prosecutor’s office to request information about possible proceedings against her, all of which in vain. After almost three months in detention, she was released and put under house arrest. Messages of hope and solidarity would be an incredible support for her.

Aytac Ünsal from Turkey

Aytaç Ünsal is a lawyer from Turkey who has been prosecuted since 2017 and sentenced to more than 10 years of detention for “belonging to a terrorist organisation”, alongside several members of the Association of Progressive Lawyers (ÇHD). In 2020, he started a hunger strike together with lawyer Ebru Timtik to demand a fair trial. He was finally released after 213 days on hunger strike for health reasons. This release followed the death of Ebru Timtik. Aytaç Unsal was imprisoned again on 10 November 2020 while undergoing medical treatment, and has been in prison ever since.

Chow Hang Tun from Hong Kong

Chow Hang Tun is a lawyer and activist based in Hong Kong who faced multiple arrests on various charges, with the most recent occurring on September 8, 2021. She has been held in detention since then. The charges levied against her included two counts of “incitement to knowingly participate in an unauthorized assembly,” “failing to comply with the police request for information”, and “incitement to State subversion,”. These charges are rooted in her involvement in organizing the annual candlelight vigil for the Tiananmen Massacre and her representation of numerous human rights defenders. In June 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined her detention to be arbitrary, a decision that met with a response from the EKSAR Government, albeit one lacking specific and substantive counterarguments. Chow Hang Tun’s unwavering dedication to justice and human rights has placed her at the forefront of activists in Hong Kong.

Maksim Znak from Belarus

Maksim Znak is a Belarusian lawyer who has represented and provided legal assistance to several potential candidates running for the presidency in Belarus, among which Viktor Babaryko and Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Further, Maksim Znak provided legal assistance to Maria Kolesnikova, co-leader of the Coordination Council. Maksim Znak was arrested on 9 September 2020. As of 6 September 2021, Mr. Znak has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Due to his sentence being imposed by ways of a closed-door-trial, the specific details and grounds of his sentence remain unknown. He has been detained incommunicado since February 2023. His sentencing has been brought in relation with his activities as part of the Coordination Council.