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Turkey
Ebru Timtik was the only posthumous recipient of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe's 2020 Human Rights Award. Photos: CCBE
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An umbrella group of European bar associations has granted a Kurdish lawyer who died after an eight-month hunger strike in protest of her detention in Turkey with an "exceptional" human rights award.
Over 30 bar associations make up the Brussels-based Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), which awarded Ebru Timtik with its Human Rights Award in a virtual ceremony held on Friday. Timtik was the only posthumous awardee, with seven Egyptian lawyers who are currently held in prison also granted the award.
Timtik was detained by Turkish authorities in September 2018, on suspicion of having links to the outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), a Marxist organisation.
Timtik was one of 18 lawyers who were handed sentences by an Istanbul court in 2019 for "forming and running a terror group" and "membership in a terror group". She was sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison.
After nearly two years in detention, Timtik began a hunger strike alongside other imprisoned lawyers. She died on August 27, the 238th day of her hunger strike.
“Together with several other lawyers, she was victim of judicial harassment and was accused of being a member of a terrorist organisation under Turkey’s sweeping anti-terrorism laws. She did not receive a fair trial and was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison,” reads a statement from the CCBE.
“From the outset of their trial, many incidents occurred that raised concerns about the impartiality and independence of the proceedings. These incidents were observed and analysed during a fact-finding mission from 13 to 15 October 2019," the statement added.
European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano said one day after her death that the European Union was “deeply saddened” by the Kurdish lawyer’s death.
“Ebru Timtik’s hunger strike for a fair trial and its tragic outcome painfully illustrate the urgent need for the Turkish authorities to credibly address the human rights situation in the country and the serious shortcomings observed in the Turkish judiciary,” Stano said.
On the same day that Timtik was granted the prestigious award, a group of lawyers from the Contemporary Lawyers' Association (CHD) filed a criminal complaint against Turkish officials for being culpable for her death, reported the Bianet news outlet.
The health of Aytac Unsal, one of Timtik's fellow hunger strikers, deteriorated in early September. Having accepted treatment, Unsal was taken to hospital; he will be returned to prison upon his recovery.
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