Leftist lawyer Aytaç Ünsal has been arrested again. The Law Office of the People (HHB) reported that the certificate of incapacitation issued in early September in the case of the 32-year-old lawyer for a period of one year has been revoked. Ünsal was arrested in the western Turkish city of Edirne on Wednesday while trying to leave the country. A photo released by the HHB law firm shows him with a bruise on his eye area, as well as scratches on his nose and forehead. Apparently, the lawyer was mistreated.

Ünsal was transferred to the F Type prison in Edirne on Thursday evening without a judicial order. HHB describes the measure as an obvious example of arbitrary opinion-based justice. The mainstream media loyal to the government had yesterday spoken of a "successful operation" against the "terrorists' lawyer network" in connection with Ünsal's arrest, referring to a defamatory statement by the Turkish Interior Ministry. This is a clear sign that the arrest of the lawyer was not made on a legal basis, but on the instructions of the government, said the HHB.

Aytaç Ünsal has been put in prison several times. In February of this year, he and other imprisoned lawyers went on hunger strike demanding a fair trial after they were sentenced to long prison terms on the basis of contradictory statements by a key witness. On April 5 - the Day of Lawyers, he converted the action into a "death fast" together with Ebru Timtik, who died at the end of August as a result of food deprivation for 238 days in Istanbul. Ünsal ended his hunger strike on Sept. 4, the day after he was released from prison, and sought medical treatment. According to his relatives, he has still not recovered from the consequences of the months long hunger strike.

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