“Ebru dies martyr, in a battle for the recognition of rights, of a fair trial. His death rekindles the spotlight on two fundamental and critical issues in a problematic country like Turkey: freedom and democracy" these are the first words of Mr. Panzeri after the tragic news about last day.
Turkish lawyer Ebru Timtik, who had been on a hunger strike for 238 days to demand a fair trial for himself and 17 of his colleagues accused of ties to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKP / C), a far-left group considered a terrorist organization by the Turkish government, the United States and the European Union. Timtik, who was 42, was involved in the defense of human rights. In 2019, she was sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison and her case was to be tried on appeal. He had started his hunger strike - along with his colleague Aytac Unsal, currently in critical condition - to protest against what he believed to be illegal procedures. The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has long been widely accused of compromising the impartiality and independence of the judicial system, and various lawyers' associations have reported procedural irregularities in the trial of Timtik and his colleagues. These included the removal of the judges who had initially authorized the release of the lawyers before the trial and the use of anonymous testimony against them.