Marking the date of Giovanni Falcone’s assassination by the Mafia in 1992, MEDEL pronounced the 23rd of May as the alert day for the independence of justice in Europe. On this date, we are invited to reflect on the need for an independent and effective justice all over Europe and its importance for the safeguard of European citizens’ fundamental rights and freedoms.

In no place as in Turkey did we witness such an orchestrated and premeditated campaign to completely destroy the independence of the Judiciary and the Rule of Law.

Since the attempted Coup d’État of July 15th, 2016, MEDEL received many messages from colleagues, relatives and other sources, reporting what was happening to judges and prosecutors in Turkey. With the collaboration of its member associations, MEDEL is today publishing an ebook with a selection of those letters, translated in 12 different languages. These messages, gathered together without comments and modifications (apart from anonymizing them) provide for na impressive witnessing of the incredible acceleration of the falling of Rule of Law in Turkey.

As long as one single Turkish Judge or Prosecutor is imprisoned for his fight for an independente Judiciary, no Judge or Prosecutor elsewhere in Europe may feel completely free and independent.

May 23rd, 2019

The bureau of MEDEL