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Human rights honour for jailed Turkish lawyer

Turkish human rights lawyer Selçuk Kozağaçlı is to receive the ‘Lawyers for Lawyers Award 2019’ on 23 May in Amsterdam.

Selecting Selçuk Kozağaçlı, the expert jury said it wanted to “applaud the unwavering dedication of both Selçuk Kozağaçlı and his colleagues in defending the basic human rights of their clients”.

Turkey has been arbitrarily jailing lawyers and putting them on trial in the aftermath of the country’s failed military coup in 2016.

Selçuk Kozağaçlı is a former president of the now-closed Progressive Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD) and has been behind bars since November 2017 on terrorism charges and was handed a sentence of 11 years, three months.

Prosecuted

The jury said that, through this award, it wished to call attention to the many Turkish lawyers who have been prosecuted in Turkey, simply for doing their jobs.

Human rights lawyers from across the world were nominated for this year’s award.

Before the presentation ceremony, the Amsterdam Bar Association and the Justitia Commission of the Young Lawyers Association in Amsterdam will hold a seminar on the proposed European Convention on the Profession of Lawyers.

Those interested can register for this event here.