From 18-19 November to 20-21 November 2024, approximately 100 lawyers from various Bar Associations in Türkiye attended training seminars in Ankara on international judicial cooperation in criminal matters, organised in collaboration with the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (UTBA).
The ICCM project’s training programme for judges and prosecutors has been updated with additional materials to better address the needs of lawyers. While defence lawyers do not have a direct right to request information or evidence from abroad, they can access this possibility through the courts. In their capacity as defence, they also serve to protect the rights of defendants from unlawful accusations and from the use of unlawfully obtained or otherwise inadmissible evidence.
The lawyers’ programme is divided into parts: Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) and Extradition. Each part is designed to inform them about how MLA and Extradition requests (both incoming and outgoing) function in Türkiye and other countries, and what role a lawyer can play in these processes. The programme included specific case scenarios for MLA requests and a moot court exercise for extradition, allowing participants to better understand the roles of lawyers, courts, and prosecutors within the system.
The project "Improving International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters in Türkiye" is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe”.
