No Verdict Announced in 6th Hearing of Büyükada Rights Defenders Case

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11 rights defenders, against whom a lawsuit was filed on charges of "aiding armed terrorist organizations" and "being members of an armed terrorist organization" due to their meeting entitled "digital security and protection of human rights defenders", had their sixth hearing at the İstanbul 35th Heavy Penal Court today (November 7).

The hearing, which started at 9.30 a.m., was attended by Günal Kurşun and Veli Acu from the Human Rights Agenda Association, Nejat Taştan from the Association for Monitoring Equal Rights as well as Amnesty International Turkey Chair Taner Kılıç and their attorneys. The hearing was also followed by several rights defenders from Turkey and abroad.

At the hearing, the attorneys of the defendants stated that the case file had been completed and advocated that the case should be finalized and the defendants should be acquitted.

Attorney of Taner Kılıç requested that his client be exempted from attending the hearings and his international travel ban be lifted.

In its interlocutory ruling, the court board ruled that Kılıç shall be exempted from the hearings, but his international travel ban continue to be in effect.

"The state owes an apology to rights defenders"

The comment of attorney Oya Aydın regarding the testimony of the anonymous witness was especially striking:

"The anonymous witness though that secret things were discussed and reported it to the law enforcement authorities; it was how the investigation was launched. The same anonymous witness emphasized that the things that he/she previously said were not right by stating 'That was how I thought.' The case has become defamatory for the human rights defenders.

"The state owes an apology to the rights defenders, who have been put into the position of defendants."

One of the defendants of the case, Günal Kurşun also stated, "I request the immediate end of this ridiculous trial and my acquittal.

The next hearing will be held on March 21, 2019.

Statement by rights organizations before the hearing

Before the hearing, eight rights organizations, namely Association for Monitoring Equal Rights, Rights Initiative Association, Human Rights Association, Human Rights Agenda Association, Women's Coalition, Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, Amnesty International Turkey and Citizens Assembly made a statement for the press and demanded the immediate acquittal of the 11 rights defenders:

"This will be the sixth hearing in this case, which is a legal tragedy"

"We want to underscore once again: we don't accept any of the accusations levelled against our fellow human rights defenders who are leaders and members of rights organizations recognised all over in Turkey and around the world. Not only do these allegations not have any concrete basis, this prosecution is also one of the indicators of the severe repression directed at the human rights movement in Turkey in recent years."

(HK/SD)

* Photograph: İrem Afşin