On January 3, the first court hearing against 4 attorneys from the People’s Law Bureau ( Lawyer Organization of the People’s Front – Turkey) took place in the courthouse in Istanbul’s Caglayan district. The four female lawyers, along with the secretary of the bureau, and one of their confidants(clients), were detained and subsequently imprisoned after SWAT teams and agents of political police stormed the headquarters of the People’s Law Bureau, located in Istanbul`s Kagithane district, late last June. Along with 3 young female lawyers, the secretary of the bureau and one of their confidants(clients) lawyer Ebru Timtik, who was wanted by the fascist authorities in late 2018, was also imprisoned last year.

At the court hearing, which lasted until the evening of January 3, the lawyers from the People’s Law Bureau – Aysegul Cagtay, Gorkem Agadede, Ebru Timtik and Nadide Ozdemir, told of the torture and mistreatment they were subjected to during the raid against their office, and have been under custody in Istanbul`s political police headquarters. At the hearing, it became clear that practically the indictment against the lawyers did not contain any substantiated arguments or evidence to accuse them of a crime committed against the current laws in Turkey. According to the parts of the defense speeches of the defendant lawyers published in the progressive media, the aim of the fascist government with this judicial case against the People’s Law Bureau is to attack its activity for the benefit of the workers and the revolutionaries, which it defends in its practice of 30 years.

At the end of the hearing, the 29th judicial jurry of the Istanbul court, which examined the case, decided: lawyers Gorkem Agadede and Nadide Yozdemir, and Gülser Saragül, secretary of the bureau, be released under house arrest, and the measure of permanent detention of Aysegul Cagtay and Ebru Timtik to be extended.

Although the lawyers defending the defendants, insisted that they should be released without imposing any measures, but the fascist court did not comply with this request of lawyers, in addition to the house arrest measure, and the placement of electronic tracking bracelets for lawyers Gorkem Agadede and Nadide Yozdemir, and secretary Gülser Sarigül, are also banned from leaving the administrative borders of Istanbul province.

A few days after the court hearing, it became clear that the prosecutor of the case had appealed against the decision to release the lawyers and the secretary of the People’s Law Bureau uner house arrest.

The lawyers from People’s Law Bureau and the Association of Progressive Lawyers insist that the measure of restraint of their colleagues be changed and that they be free to re-engage in their lawyer practice.