An Istanbul court sentenced four rights defenders to prison during a trial on July 3. The court sentenced Taner Kılıç to six years and three months in prison over “terrorist organization membership.” Günal Kuşun, İdil Eser and Özlem Dalkıran were handed one year and 13 months jail terms over “aiding a terrorist organization.”
Dunja Mijatović, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, published today her submission to the Committee of Ministers in the context of the supervision of the execution of the judgment handed down by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Kavala v. Turkey on 10 December 2019. This case relates to the detention of the applicant in violation of Articles 5 and 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
3 July 2020, Çağlayan Courthouse, Istanbul
Three years ago, during a routine civil society workshop in Büyükada island, human rights defenders were detained by police. Human rights defenders who spent many years defending human rights were targeted with baseless allegations and a smear campaign on TV and newspapers. In the shadow of a climate of fear, they were imprisoned without any lawful justification.
The European Parliament´s standing rapporteur for Turkey, Nacho Sánchez Amor (S&D, ES), and the Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, Sergey Lagodinsky, (Greens/EFA, DE) said:
Prevented from holding a march from Diyarbakır Bar Association to the Four-Legged Minaret, where former Diyarbakır Bar Chair Tahir Elçi was assassinated, lawyers have staged a sit-in protest in front of Diyarbakır Bar.
Lawyers have come together in front of İstanbul Courthouse and rallied against the motion foreseeing amendments to the Attorneys’ Acts that will enable the establishment of more than one bar association in a city. Police intervened in the protest in Adana.
Upon the call of the İstanbul Bar Association, hundreds of lawyers came together in front of İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan today (June 30) and protested the bill that will "split bar associations."
United Nations Special Rapporteur On the Situation of Human Rights Defenders:
Court Verdicts For Human Rights Defenders In Turkey Due Friday July 3
Eleven Human Rights Defenders are waiting for court verdicts to be announced this Friday, July 3, in Istanbul. It’s a well-known case, known usually as the Buyukada Case. The defenders face jail terms in Turkey of up to 15 years each.
United Nations Special Rapporteur On the Situation of Human Rights Defenders:
Court Verdicts For Human Rights Defenders In Turkey Due Friday July 3
Eleven Human Rights Defenders are waiting for court verdicts to be announced this Friday, July 3, in Istanbul. It’s a well-known case, known usually as the Buyukada Case. The defenders face jail terms in Turkey of up to 15 years each.
A U.S.-based documentary maker produced a 10-minute opera about jailed philanthropist Osman Kavala and his pet snails. The human rights activist and businessman has been imprisoned for nearly a thousand days, and adopted two snails as pets in prison. The volunteers recorded the opera from remote locations, only to be mixed together later.