Areas of PracticePublic and International Law: European Court of Human Rights Litigation, European Court of Justice Human Rights Actions; United Nations/OSCE/ and Post Conflict Advisory Work; Domestic Human Rights Actions under the HRA 1998 Criminal Practice: International Criminal Defence Work; Terrorism; Extradition; Immigration & People Trafficking Offences; Money Laundering; Serious Fraud; Revenue Offences; Offences against the Person; Drugs Trafficking Civil: Actions against the Police; Designated Chancery Matters including Charitable Trust & Temple Disputes. Professional and Litigation Profile Mark is a senior barrister at Garden Court Chambers who took Silk on 16 October 2006. He was previously Head of Chambers at 10-11 Gray's Inn Square between 1998 -2006. He is currently Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC), Chair of the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP). a patron of the Zimbabwe Defence and Aid Fund and a director the environmental NGO Protimos, each of which he helped establish. He is also a member of the Bar Human Rights Litigation Team which has brought numerous international human rights test cases, including most recently, the U.S. Supreme Court Case of Hamdan v Rumsfeld which upheld the habeas corpus and fair trial rights of Guantanomo detainees and declared unlawful proposed military tribunals. Mark is also a founder director of the EU-Turkey Accession Civic Commission (EUTACC), which was set up in 2004 and consists of a group of leading NGO's, politicians, intellectuals and community organisations dedicated to monitoring Turkey and the European Commission's compliance with the Copenhagen Accession Criteria. He mainly specialises in international human rights cases and criminal related litigation both at home and abroad. In 2001 he qualified and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh, Scotland. Recent European Court of Human Rights cases Mark has conducted a multitude of cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) involving all principal Articles in the Convention and related Protocols. He is head of the KHRP legal team which has brought over 100 successful cases against the Government of Turkey, a list of which can be found on the KHRP website. Throughout the early 1990's Mark led evidence gathering teams in Turkey and appeared before Fact Finding hearings held by the European Commission in Ankara. Since 1996 he has pleaded and presented some of the KHRP's most important cases. Examples of recent cases before the Grand Chamber of the European Court in the last year include: Abdullah Ocalan v. Turkey (12 May 2005) which concerned the abolition of the death penalty, the extra-territoriality of Convention jurisdiction, and a comprehensive re-examination of principal fair trial norms under Article 6;: Issa & Others v. Turkey which re-affirmed the extra-territorial reach of the Convention where Member States exercise de facto military control over a non-member state's territory (in this case Iraq); and Sinan Tanrikulu v Turkey (6 October 2005) which confirmed the 14 day detention time limit even during states of emergency situations. Mark has also acted for numerous other individuals and states involved in litigation before the European Court of Human rights. For example, he was instrumental in lodging the first ECHR cases against Armenia and Azerbaijan. These cases include Noyan Tapan v Armenia, the first Article 10 case against restrictions imposed on a private TV station; and Elkhan Chiragov & Others v. Armenia, the first IDP case pertaining to the region. More recently, he acted on behalf of a prominent Cypriot lawyer in the Grand Chamber Case of Michael Kypriannou -v- Republic of Cyprus which has become the lead case on the ambit of contempt of court and disciplinary sanctions against lawyers within the Council of Europe jurisdiction. Recent European Court of Justice cases Mark also provides advice and representation in human rights related actions brought before the European Court of Justice of the European Union. For example, in R v SSHO ex parte Gloszuck Mark appeared before the ECJ, in an Article 177 reference in which the European Council, Commission and 11 member states intervened. The case established the direct effect of certain provisions of the EU-Polish Association Agreements relating to rights of establishment. More recently, he has lodged cases on behalf of the PMOI, KNK, PKK, Kongra-Gel and other individuals, challenging the legality of certain aspects of EU Terrorism legislation, including EU proscription lists. Recent domestic cases In the domestic jurisdiction Mark has acted in a number of terror related cases. In 2003 he appeared in PMOI & Others v. SSHO, a reported case involving a Human Rights Act challenge to the legality of the Terrorism Act 2000. Mark is currently acting on behalf of the PMOI in respect of its attempts to obtain de-proscription. Elsewhere he has successfully defended a number of suspects charged with terrorist offences: see R v Karayilan and others in December 2002 and R v Kalayci and Others in March 2004. Other recent high profile cases in which Mark appeared as lead counsel include the "Yarlswood Detention Centre Arson Case" where he secured an acquittal for an alleged ring leader R v Lucky Jacobs. He is currently instructed in number of other high profile terror cases. Mark continues to appear in other more traditional criminal cases. Conflict resolution and post reconstruction advisory work As Vice-Chair and now Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee Mark has become intimately involved in a number of conflict and post conflict disputes around the world. At present he is engaged in justice reconstruction programmes in Afghanistan, Sudan, Palestine, and Iraq. These programmes include enhancing the legal capacity of civic organisations within the region. Over the last five years he has led missions to India, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He has also been involved in work concerning Internally Displaced Peoples. For example, in August 2005 he toured Turkey lecturing on the practical application of the new Law of Compensation and is due to publish a book on the subject with Sharon Linsey of Cornell University. He continues to be instructed in a number of IDP cases before the European Court of Human Rights. Mark is also a member of the FCO Post Conflict network group and also acts as a confidential advisor to international conflict resolution organizations regarding a number of conflicts around the world. Lecturing and training Mark Muller has a long history of lecturing on European and Human Rights Law. From 1988-1990 he was an Assistant Professor in Political Science and Law at South Eastern University, Washington DC, (Middle East campus). In 1991 he returned to London to practice law and lectured on European and Human Rights Law on behalf of the University of London. Throughout the 1990's he lectured extensively on the human rights situation in Turkey, including seminars for the Middle East Studies Association in the U.S. Since then, Mark has been instrumental in devising and providing ECHR training to lawyers throughout Europe and beyond on behalf of the Bar Human Rights Committee, the International Bar Association, the Kurdish Human Rights Project and the Council of Europe. In particular, he has conducted workshops on the UN, OSCE, and Council of Europe in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, India and the United States. He has also assisted the FCO in its training programmes in respect of Iraqi judges and regularly holds seminars and meetings with FCO and British Council funded legal visitors from abroad. Publications Mark has written extensively on a wide variety of human rights and legal subjects. Between 1990-93 he was the Editor of Amnesty International Lawyers' Group Magazine. In the early 1990's he wrote a series of groundbreaking fact finding and trial observations reports detailing the systematic abuse of human rights in the Kurdish areas of Turkey on behalf of Article 19, the Bar Human Rights Committee and other Non Governmental Organisations. Early examples of these reports include: Censorship & the Rule of Law in Turkey: The Case of Ozgur Gundem (1993); Advocacy & the Rule of Law: The Prosecution and Repression of Defence Lawyers in Turkey (1994); Nationalism & The Rule of Law in Turkey (1995). In 1996 Mark co-authored a book with Professor Robert Olsen at the University of Kentucky entitled "The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990's". Since then, he has contributed to numerous legal publications of the Kurdish Human Rights Project and is one of the editors of the Kurdish Human Rights Legal Review. Mark has also written a number of legal reports for other Bar Associations, and the British Parliamentary Human Rights Group. In 1998 he wrote an in depth analysis about the human rights situation in Bahrain entitled: "The State Security Courts in Bahrain". This report received widespread publicity in the region and was instrumental in the successful campaign to abolish the tribunals. More recently, Mark has edited a book on Turkey's accession to the European Union (September 2005) and assisted both Kerim Yildiz and Noam Chomsky in publishing another book concerning human rights and Turkey. He is also due to co-publish a book on Turkey’s new law of compensation for IDPs (January 2006) and is currently writing a book about the history of the Kurdish struggle in Turkey and Europe entitled "Dialogue with Terror" which is due to be published next year by Pluto Press. Human Rights lobbying Throughout the last decade Mark Muller has advised and been extensively engaged in human rights lobbying on behalf of international non-governmental organisations concerning developments in Human Rights. He has appeared before the OSCE and the UN Human Rights Commission to present submissions on behalf of the KHRP and other NGOs. In 1998 he helped lead the UK Coalition of NGOs in favour of the International Criminal Court and attended the United Nations Rome Conference, which established the International Criminal Court Statute. He also contributed to the preparatory hearings concerning the practice and procedure of the Court. As a BHRC representative Mark sat on Robin Cook's Foreign Office Death Penalty Advisory Committee and has appeared before Parliamentary Select Committees concerning various human rights and environmental issues.
Throughout the last 10 years he has made regular appearances in the international and national media on issues such as the abolition of the death penalty, journalistic freedom, and Guantanamo Bay. He was one of the first lawyers to publicly raise and criticise the system of detention at Camp X along with Stephen Solley QC back in February 2002. More recently, in 2004 he has been actively engaged in highlighting and assisting persecuted lawyers and human rights activists in countries as diverse as Zimbabwe to Bahrain. Mark regularly speaks at parliamentary and public meetings for groups who are engaged in defending the rights of disadvantaged communities, such as CAMPACC. For the second year running Mark has been shortlisted for Liberty's prestigious Human Rights Lawyer of the Year Award 2007, he has been particularly recognised for his continued contribution to the promotion of human rights and his commitment to the defence of vulnerable ethnic and minority communities. Read the news story Other interests Mark has also advised various film-makers about human rights lawyers and their respective practices. Such films include: Bridget Jones Diary; In this World by Michael Winterbottom; and "Spooks". He is also a trustee of the Delfina Arts Trust which is dedicated to promoting mutual understanding between the West and Muslim communities in the Middle East.
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