International Human Rights Advisors sign Joint Letter: Urgent concern regarding the health and detention of lawyer Süleyman Yıldırım

International Human Rights Advisors sign Joint Letter to Mr Yılmaz Tunç, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Türkiye, on 3 October 2025

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Your Excellency,
We, the undersigned organisations, write to you to express our deep concern regarding the situation of lawyer Süleyman Yıldırım, a member of the Denizli Bar Association, who is currently in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a state hospital.

According to the information received:

• Mr. Yıldırım was held in pretrial detention from 23 March 2017 to 19 December 2017, and was convicted on 04 July 2018 by the Denizli 2nd Assize Court of membership in an armed terrorist organisation on the basis of alleged ByLock use and ordinary banking transactions. His conviction was later upheld.
• On 27 July 2025, while receiving treatment at Acıpayam State Hospital, Mr. Yıldırım was detained and transferred to Denizli T-Type Prison. He was kept there for two months without adequate medical treatment.
• On 6 September 2025, after his condition deteriorated, he was transferred to the ICU of Denizli State Hospital, where he has remained for nearly three weeks. He underwent heart surgery and has suffered severe complications, including blood clot in the heart,
  risk of amputation of his legs, and fluid in his lungs.
• Doctors at Denizli State Hospital have issued medical reports stating that Mr. Yıldırım is not fit to remain in prison and that he cannot travel even for medical control, stressing that his condition is extremely serious and that there is a high risk of death.

Despite this, the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK) has reportedly insisted that he should be brought to Istanbul for further evaluation, in disregard of the local doctors’ medical opinion. It is particularly regrettable that Mr. Yıldırım remains imprisoned despite the European Court of Human Rights’ Grand Chamber judgment in Yalçınkaya v. Turkey (26 September 2023), which found that reliance on ByLock data as decisive evidence of organisational membership violates the European Convention on Human Rights.

The detention of a lawyer in such life-threatening medical condition, coupled with denial of timely and appropriate medical care, raises grave concerns of violations of Articles 2 and 3 ECHR that protect the right to life and prohibit inhuman or degrading treatment. We respectfully recall that Turkey is bound by its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and international standards, including the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers. We therefore respectfully urge you to:

• Ensure the suspension of execution of sentence imposed upon Mr. Süleyman Yıldırım
  on medical grounds so that he may receive adequate treatment.
• Ensure full compliance with the medical recommendations of the treating doctors in
  Denizli.
• Guarantee that lawyers in Turkey are not subjected to persecution, intimidation, or
  imprisonment for their professional activities or the exercise of their fundamental
  rights.

We trust that the Turkish authorities will take urgent steps to protect Mr. Yıldırım’s life and health and uphold the rule of law.

Yours sincerely,

1. Avocats Sans Frontières (Belgium)
2. Association Défense Sans frontière – Avocats Solidaires (France)
3. European Lawyers Foundation (Italy)
4. European Criminal Bar Association (The Netherlands)
5. Human Rights Defenders e.V (Germany)
6. Human Rights Solidarity (The United Kingdom)
7. International Human Rights Advisors (The United Kingdom)
8. International Observatory for Lawyers in
   Danger (France)
9. Lawyers Against Transnational Repression
10. Italian Federation for Human Rights (Italy)
11. Justice Abroad (The United Kingdom)
12. Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers, International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL)
13. Solidarity With OTHERS (Belgium)
14. The Arrested Lawyers Initiative (Belgium)
15. Turkey Tribunal (Belgium)
16. Weltanwälte e.V. (Germany)

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Image: ©Bayk