Prominent rights lawyer rearrested less than 24 hours after release from prison

Selçuk Kozağaçlı, a well-known human rights lawyer and honorary president of the Progressive Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD), was rearrested on Thursday, less than 24 hours after his release from Marmara Prison in Silivri, near İstanbul, where he had been incarcerated since 2017, the Habertürk news website reported.

Kozağaçlı’s release on Wednesday sparked celebration among his colleagues, rights advocates and members of Turkey’s opposition. However, his freedom was short-lived after the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office filed an objection to the release, citing concerns about the execution of his sentence.

Onursal Genel Başkanımız Av. Selçuk Kozağaçlı 9 yıla yaklaşan haksız tutsaklık sürecinin ardından bugün tahliye edildi!

"Kendisine saygısı olan kimsenin hapisten korkmasına gerek yok. Herkes hapiste, korkmayın. " pic.twitter.com/CrgIWP63IT

— ÇHD İstanbul Şube (@CHDistanbul_) April 16, 2025

According Naim Eminoğlu, a colleague of Kozağaçlı, his release was reversed by a prison monitoring board, an extraordinary move he described as legally dubious. “This is highly unusual,” Eminoğlu said.

The lawyer was sent back to Silivri after briefly appearing before a prosecutor, the Cumhuriyet daily reported.

Kozağaçlı, who was arrested in November 2017 on terrorism charges, had been serving a 10-year sentence for alleged membership in the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), a group designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey. His conviction was upheld by Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals in April 2024.

The ÇHD was shut down by government decree following a coup attempt in July 2016, part of a broader crackdown on dissent. Kozağaçlı had represented numerous politically sensitive clients, including families of the victims of a mine disaster in 2014 that had claimed the lives of 301 miners; dismissed civil servants such as teachers Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, who went on a hunger strike protesting their post-coup purge; and many other persecuted people.

This is not the first time Kozağaçlı has faced the sudden reversal of a release decision. In 2018, he and 16 other lawyers from the ÇHD were released after a year in pretrial detention, only to be rearrested days later.

Upon his release on Wednesday, Kozağaçlı posted a message on X saying: “The struggle continues, inside or outside prison. The injustice against us will end. We will build a life of dignity together. We are right. We will win.”

Outside the prison he told supporters: “Prison is not something to fear. You go in, you come out. We must not allow our lives to be stolen or this country to be governed so poorly. Let’s keep fighting.”

His re-arrest has fueled further outrage among rights groups and opposition figures, who view it as another sign of Turkey’s deteriorating judicial independence and worsening crackdown on dissent.

Milena Büyüm, Amnesty International’s Turkey campaigner, reacted to the news about Kozağaçlı’s re-arrest on X, saying, “Appalling that just 24 hours after he was released from prison after serving the majority of his unjust sentence, lawyer Selçuk Kozağaçlı has been remanded again following an objection by a prosecutor. He was due for early release since February. The injustice continues!”

Kozağaçlı received the Lawyer for Lawyers 2019 award.