In November 2021, the Legal Journal reported on how Servet Yildiz Stêrk experienced threats and harassment following his participation in a demonstration outside the Turkish embassy in Oslo.

The demonstration was organized by the Norwegian Bar Association's Human Rights Committee and was part of a coordinated European effort in which local bar associations in several European cities simultaneously expressed solidarity with persecuted lawyers in Turkey. Lawyers from the Human Rights Committee, including the chair Else Leona McClimans and Maria Hessen Jacobsen, participated wearing legal gowns.

After his participation, Stêrk experienced social media harassment, accusations of being a "traitor to the country" and a "terrorist sympathizer," as well as threats of being reported to the Turkish anti-terror police.

Stêrk, who has a Kurdish background and came to Norway from Turkey as a young boy, participated in the demonstration with other lawyers to protest against the Turkish state's persecution of lawyers. Since the attempted coup in 2016, more than 1,600 lawyers have been arrested and 450 lawyers have been sentenced to long prison terms in Turkey.

McClimans stated to the Legal Journal: "It is interesting that he, as a Norwegian lawyer in Norway, receives the same accusations as our lawyer colleagues in Turkey experience, and for which they are also imprisoned."

The case highlights the challenges lawyers may face when taking a stand for fundamental legal principles and colleagues' rights internationally, and the importance of defending the independence and freedom of expression of lawyers.