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MEDEL, AEJ, AEAJ and Judges for Judges sent a letter today to the President of the European Commission, urging for an immediate and decisive intervention to stop the crackdown of the Rule of Law in Poland. You can read the letter below:
Four European Associations of Judges and Prosecutors took notice with great concern of the recent developments in Poland regarding the upcoming hearings by the Disciplinary Chamber: on October 5th, the hearing of Igor Tuleya on the context of an appeal case; on October 12th, the hearing of Beata Morawiec; on October 21st, the hearing of Irena Majcher; and on October 16th, the hearing of Prosecutor Krzysztof Parchimowicz.
MEDEL subscribes and fully supports the letter of Prof. Laurent Pech and other academics to the President of the European Commission, regarding the breakdown of #RuleOfLaw in #Poland.
"The rule of law in Poland is not merely being attacked. It is being destroyed in plain sight."
Dear President von der Leyen,
In your recent State of the Union address, you rightly emphasized that “breaches of the rule of law cannot be tolerated.”
We are sorry to say we are seeing ample evidence to the contrary (see our previous open letters here and here).
The current Commission is failing to project any sense of urgency (at least, in public view) around this issue, while Polish authorities continue to openly abuse, harass and intimidate judges and prosecutors who are seeking to defend the rule of law. In addition, Polish authorities continue to openly defy the authority of the Court of Justice by refusing to follow its judgments, most recently its order regarding the so-called Disciplinary Chamber.
In its Council of Administration held in Firenze, Italy, on September 19th, 2020, MEDEL approved:
- the Declaration of Firenze, on the Independence of the Public Prosecution;
- a statement on the visit to Turkey of the President of the ECHR.
You may find them here.
Upon invitation of Turkey's Minister of Justice, the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Robert Spano, made an official visit to Turkey on 3rd September 2020, where he received an honorary doctorate from the Istanbul University. During his visit, he gave a speech at the Turkish Judicial Academy, had a meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and also met and took pictures with other AKP executives.
MEDEL sees with great concern the fact that the President of the ECHR accepted an honorary doctorate from one of the academic institutions that since the failed coup d’état of July 2016 have dismissed more than 5.000 academics, without any due process or guarantees.
Since the Palermo Declaration “Elements of a European Statute of the Judiciary”, adopted on 16 January 1993, MEDEL affirmed that the autonomy of the public prosecutor constitutes a fundamental instrument of the independence of jurisdiction. As public prosecutors contribute to a fair, impartial and efficient justice- system, they should enjoy guarantees equivalent to those of judges, without external interferences or undue pressure[1].
MEDEL reaffirmed in the “Naples Declaration of Principles Concerning the Public Prosecutor”, adopted on 2 March 1996, the essential role of public prosecutors in protecting the Rule of Law, as well as the need of a parallel statute of judges and prosecutors guaranteeing independent performance of duties.[2]
The Council of Administration of MEDEL, meeting today in Florence, Italy, unanimously approved a statement on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. You can read the statement below.
International conference "Public Prosecution and Rule of Law in Europe".
MEDEL has co-signed a joint statement, published today, on the mass arrest of lawyers in Turkey. You can read it below:
Through the new “alternative bar associations” legislation and President Erdogan’s own words “Those who act as the lawyers of terrorists may not act like terrorists themselves. If they do so, there must be a price to pay”, which he said in the presence of judges and prosecutors in the new judicial year opening ceremony, the Turkish government had already signaled that a new phase in the persecution of lawyers was about to start. Only a few days after President Erdogan’s speech, today (11 September 2020), the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor has ordered the arrest of 48 lawyers, 7 trainee lawyers, 4 purged judges and a law graduate, for being “members of a terrorist organisation”
MEDEL issued a statement on the death of the Turkish Lawyer Ebru Timtik. You can find it below:
The death of Ebru Timtik, after 238 days of hunger strike, adds one more life to the many that have already been quashed since the upheaval of democracy in Turkey, and confirms that all members of the Turkish legal community (judges, lawyers, academics) who keep working to defend the rule of law remain “enemies” to fight without mercy.
Ebru Timtik was sentenced to more than 13 years of prison for alleged membership in a terrorist organization, simply on the basis of her professional activity. She never stopped to fight against this injustice, claiming her right to have a fair trial, a fundamental guarantee that is now denied to Turkish citizens.
