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Law associations call on high judiciary to stick to int’l law
Nearly 50 lawyers gathered under the umbrella of the Law Associations Platform and staged a demonstration at the İstanbul Courthouse on Monday to protest the high judiciary.
Speaking on behalf of the group, lawyer Murat Aktürk said, “We call on members of the high courts, who have made decisions to release and compensate Ergenekon members, to work with sincerity for justice for everyone and to comply with international law.”
Turkey’s high courts have recently been at the center of criticism for their apparently unlawful decisions in a number of critical cases. In one recent case, the 11th Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals controversially released Erzincan Chief Public Prosecutor İlhan Cihaner, who faces charges of membership in a terrorist organization, pending trial.
The court first merged two unrelated trials involving Cihaner with the terrorism case and in so doing, experts say, violated a number of laws before releasing Cihaner. A voice recording allegedly featuring the voice of Supreme Court of Appeals 8th Chamber Judge Hamdi Yaver Aktan published online on June 9 appeared to show that a well-thought-out plan to free Cihaner had been successfully implemented.
In another recent scandal, the Supreme Court of Appeals ruled that nine judges at separate high criminal courts must pay TL 1,500 each in compensation to Başkent University Rector Mehmet Haberal on the grounds that they were not fair in their decisions to reject appeals to release the rector from prison. Haberal was arrested last year as part of an investigation into a clandestine terrorist group known as Ergenekon, which is charged with plotting to overthrow the government.
Stating that the high judiciary has declared itself as the guardian of the status quo, Aktürk said recent unlawful decisions have raised eyebrows. Noting that neither the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Appeals nor the Council of State has such a duty, he said the high judiciary, which has been trying to establish a form of tutelage over the nation, is engaging in a power struggle with the political authority.
“The high judiciary has been drawing ire with their unlawful decisions peculiar to some suspects with certain worldviews,” he said, recalling that dozens of suspects in the case into the Sledgehammer Security Operation Plan, believed to be an attempt to overthrow the government through a subversive plan, have also been set free.
Antalya, Burdur, Isparta bars also react to high courts
A group of lawyers affiliated with Antalya, Isparta and Burdur Bar associations also held a press conference on Monday to criticize recent judicial scandals. Lawyer Mustafa Özmen spoke at the press conference of behalf of the lawyers, who are also members of the Antalya-based Platform of the Rule of Law.
Stating that the recent merger decision by the Supreme Court of Appeals on the Cihaner case goes against the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK), he said there are other similar decisions that have been made by the high courts, apparently to protect certain individuals.
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