Lawyers Aycan Çiçek, Aytaç Ünsal, Engin Gökoğlu and Behiç Aşcı were taken into custody by the Anti-Terror police on the street in front of the Istanbul Bar Association where a celebration, dedicated to their release, was planned to take place. On the same day, lawyer Ahmet Mandacı, who was returning home from a visit to his family, was taken into custody in Çanakkale. The lawyers were once again arrested by the court before which they appeared on September 16, 2018.89 ÇHD Chairman Selçuk Kozağaçlı, who was considered a fugitive, came to the court on his own initiative and was arrested.90 At the hearing on March 20, 2019, the panel of judges did not allow defence lawyers into the courtroom. The judgment was announced in the courtroom in the absence of the defendants, who were protesting the situation. The lawyers were sentenced to a prison sentence of a total of more than 159 years.91 The decision was approved by the Court of Cassation with a large majority in September 2020, and the case was transferred to the Constitutional Court on October 5, 2020.92 89 Ibid. 90 For a more detailed account of the process, please refer to lawyer Tora Pekin’s article entitled “Akbabanın Üç Günü [Three Days of the Condor]” published in the hardcopy issue Fall 2018 issue of Express magazine. 91 The prison sentences of the lawyers are as follows: Barkın Timtik: 18 years 9 months; Özgür Yılmaz: 13 years and 6 months; Ebru Timtik: 13 years and 6 months; Behiç Aşcı: 12 years; Şükriye Erden: 12 years; Selçuk Kozağaçlı: 10 years and 15 months; Engin Gökoğlu: 10 years and 6 months; Aytaç Ünsal: 10 years and 6 months; Süleyman Gökten: 10 years and 6 months; Aycan Çiçek: 9 years; Naciye Demir: 9 years; Ezgi Çakır: 7 years and 12 months; Yağmur Ereren: 3 years 9 months; Yaprak Türkmen: 3 years 9 months; Didem Baydar Ünsal: 3 years 9 months; Ayşegül Çağatay: 3 years 9 months; Zehra Özdemir: 2 years 13 months; and Ahmet Mandacı: 2 years and 13 months [Lawyers from Contemporary Lawyers’ Association (Sessizkalma): https://www.sessizkalma.org/en/defender/contemporary-lawyers-association/]; Turkish Bar statement [Adil Yargılanma Hakkı Noktasında çok Ciddi İhlal Tespitlerimiz Vardır (21.03.2019; Union of Turkish Bar Associations): https://www.barobirlik.org.tr/Haberler/adil-yargilanma-hakki-noktasinda-cok-ciddi-ihlal-tespitlerimizvardir-80551]; Statements by bar associations after the verdict in Turkish [Dün, İstanbul 37. Ağır Ceza Mahkemesi Tarafından, 18 Meslektaşımız Hakkında, 3 Yıl (Ankara Bar Association): http://www.ankarabarosu.org.tr/HaberDuyuru. THE LAWYERS’ RESISTANCE Lawyers responded to these practices and the trials they were involved in, with collective protests – some related to specific cases and others as a general resistance against increasing rights violations. The following section will reflect on the movements that have come to existence as a result. The most well-known of these protests, “The Justice Watch” (Adalet Nöbeti), established ground for a long-standing and a wide-spread movement throughout the whole country. THE JUSTICE WATCH On October 31, 2016, an operation was carried out against the newspaper Cumhuriyet.93 As a result of the operation that continued in the following days, 11 executives and employees of the newspaper were arrested. Among those arrested were lawyer and Cumhuriyet Foundation Chief Executive Officer Akın Atalay, and the newspaper’s lawyers, as well as the foundation’s executive and advisory board members Bülent Utku and Mustafa Kemal Güngör. In the following days, the protests for the freedom of these lawyers turned into a periodic action called “The Justice Watch.” Many lawyers marched from the Çağlayan Courthouse to the building of the Cumhuriyet newspaper to protest the arrests. Lawyer Kemal Aytaç suggested holding a “Justice Watch” at the courthouse in order to raise greater awareness among the general public.94 His proposal came to life as a result of the support of the companions of those arrested in the context of the Cumhuriyet Trial. The first Watch was held on April 6, 2017 in front of the Çağlayan Courthouse. Lawyers started to gather at noon in front of the statue of Themis— a symbol of aspx?DUN,_ISTANBUL_37._AGIR_CEZA_MAHKEMESI_TARAFINDAN,_18_MESLEKTASIMIZ_HAKKINDA,_3_YIL_DOKUZ_ AYDAN_18_YIL_DOKUZ_AYA_KADAR_VARAN_HAPIS_CEZALARI_VERILMIS,_IKI_MESLEKTASIMIZ_HAKKINDAKI_ 93 Turkey detains editor and staff at opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper (31.10.2016, The Guardian): https://www.theguardian. DOSYA_ISE_TEFRIK_EDILMISTIR&=2677] com/world/2016/oct/31/turkey-detains-editor-and-staff-at-opposition-cumhuriyet-newspaper 92 Lawyers from Contemporary Lawyers’ Association (Sessizkalma): https://www.sessizkalma.org/en/defender/ 94 Kemal Aytaç (Sessizkalma): https://www.sessizkalma.org/en/defender/kemal-aytac-2/ contemporary-lawyers-association/ 42 A DEFENSELESS DEFENSE T H E J U S T I C E WAT C H 43