Invitation – Joint event on 28 October: Lawyers’ free speech in Turkey
Lawyers for Lawyers cordially invites you to the event ‘Voices Under Fire: The Criminalisation of Lawyers’ Free Speech and Kurdish Defense Rights’ which will take place on Monday 28 October at 17:30 at the UvA. This event is organised in collaboration with PEN Norway and ELSA (European Law Students Association), and takes place in the context of PEN Norway’s Turkey Indictment Project.
For years, lawyers in Turkey have been unable to perform their professional duties effectively due to external pressure and interference. Attacks on lawyers range from physical or verbal threats to surveillance and judicial harassment, including arbitrary arrest, detention and criminal prosecution. This is often a direct result of lawyers’ identification with their clients or the cases they work on.
The number of lawyers in Turkey facing criminal prosecution for their freedom of expression has been on the rise in recent years. For PEN Norway’s Turkey Indictment Project, L4L has drafted a number of reports in which it critically assesses indictments prepared against lawyers based on the exercise of their freedom of expression, in light of Turkish and international law.
The importance of a free and independent legal profession, including lawyers’ role in public debate, will be topic of discussion. In addition, the event will focus on the right to conduct defence in Kurdish. The rights of the Kurdish minority in Turkey are under severe pressure, both inside and outside the courtroom. This hinders the right to a fair trial and cannot be separated from the work criminal lawyers do for their Kurdish clients.
Two separate panels will delve deeper into these issues.
Program
Panel I: ‘Defending in Kurdish: A Right Denied?’
- Caroline Stockford, PEN Norway, Turkey Advisor
- Esma Yaşar, lawyer and Kurdish interpreter, Foundation for Society and Legal Studies (TOHAV)
- Moderated by Froukje Santing, PEN Netherlands
Panel II: ‘Silencing lawyers, silencing all’
- Ceren Uysal, PEN Norway, Legal Advisor
- Ruken Gülağacı, lawyer, Foundation for Society and Legal Studies (TOHAV)
- Moderated by Tara Fiechter, Lawyers for Lawyers, Program officer
Recap
When: Monday 28 October, 17:30-19:00.
Where: UvA Law Faculty, Roeterseiland, Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, WV Amsterdam – Room A2.06 (second floor)