Our colleague Sezin Uçar has been in pre-trial detention since 14 April 2026. Her first hearing will finally take place on 24 September 2026 at 14:00 before the Istanbul 26th High Criminal Court.
This is not Sezin’s first prosecution. In October 2017, she and her colleague Özlem Gümüştaş were arrested and detained for almost a year. That case, pending before the Istanbul 27th High Criminal Court since 2018, is still ongoing.
In February 2026, a new mass investigation targeted around 100 people, including journalists, environmental activists, political party representatives and lawyers.Sezin was abroad at the time for joining a legal conference in France. Although she knew that an arrest warrant had been issued against her, she voluntarily returned to Turkey on 13 April 2026. She was detained at the airport and remanded in custody the following day.
The new case once again turns lawyering itself into evidence of criminality. Statements in the case file explicitly refer to Sezin’s work as a lawyer at the Law Office of the Oppressed (EHB). Meetings with her clients and money transferred to her for legal expenses, lawyers’ fees and Constitutional Court applications are characterised as evidence of an “organisational relationship”.
Even her refusal to disclose the password to her mobile phone — containing confidential professional and client information — has been cited against her and relied upon as a ground for detention. The privilege against self-incrimination and a lawyer’s duty to protect professional confidentiality cannot be transformed into evidence of guilt.
The new proceedings also raise serious concerns under the principle of ne bis in idem and form part of a broader pattern in which lawyers are prosecuted for the very professional activities they are obliged to perform.
Despite Sezin’s continued detention, the Istanbul 26th High Criminal Court scheduled her first hearing almost six months after her arrest.
We call on lawyers, bar associations, international organisations, diplomatic missions and trial observers to attend and monitor the hearing.
If you are interested to participate in the monitoring of the trial send a message to
Trial observation
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