Good news: All the nine lawyers who were arrested in Istanbul earlier this week, were released from pre-trial detention on Saturday 19 March 2016 by the decision of the interrogation judge. The lawyers will however still be prosecuted. Lawyers for Lawyers will continue to monitor the case closely.
In the early morning of 16 March, police raided the houses of 9 lawyers in Istanbul, Turkey. After the search, lawyers Ramazan Demir, İrfan Arasan, Ayşe Acinikli, Hüseyin Boğatekin, Şefik Çelik, Adem Çalışçı, Ayşe Başar, Tamer Doğan and Mustafa Ruzgar were arrested. An arrest warrant was ordered against a tenth lawyer. They are all members of the Libertarian Lawyers Association (Ozgurlukcu Hukukcular Dernegi – OHD).
All lawyers that were arrested represent the 46 lawyers who were arrested in 2011 on suspicion of “working for, or belonging to, a terrorist organisation”.
Lawyers for Lawyers and Fair Trial Watch, called on the Turkish authorities to immediately release the arrested lawyers.
