Turkish lawyers to file complaint against body searches at courthouse

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Many have lawyers criticized and resisted the searches, claiming that they were being made in suspects. Hürriyet Photo

The Union of Bar Associations of Turkey (TBB) will file a legal complaint against all security guards who conduct body searches of lawyers at courthouse entrances, TBB President Metin Feyzioğlu has stated.

“We will file criminal complaint against every security guard involved and everyone [chief prosecutors or politicians] who has instructed them to beat lawyers and to treat lawyers differently [than judges, prosecutors, courthouse personnel] at the entrance of courthouses,” said a statement issued by Feyzioğlu.

Security guards started searching lawyers at the entrance of courthouses on April 1, the day after Şafak Yayla and Bahtiyar Doğruyol of the outlawed far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) took prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz, 46, hostage at Istanbul’s Çağlayan Courthouse. All three were killed in a shootout with police late on March 31 after a six-hour hostage crisis. 

Many have lawyers criticized and resisted the searches, claiming that they were being made in suspects.

On April 3, lawyers, including Istanbul Bar Association head Ümit Kocasakal, protested the searches at the courthouse. A scuffle later occurred between lawyers and security forces. 

Kocasakal asked the security guard chiefs whether they were also searching judges, and added that they will stage protests at the central Çağlayan Courthouse on April 6 and 8.

Fevzioğlu also wrote via his official Facebook page that “those who treat lawyers as criminal and those who break the law will pay for it.”