225 Investigations Brought against Rights Association Members During State of Emergency

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“Right to fair trial has been violated by means of unjust detentions and arrests, which existed before the State of Emergency too that was put into effect on July 20, 2016 and still continues, and human rights defenders being sentenced to prison due to unjust trials increasingly continues”.

The Human Rights Association has announced its report entitled “Crackdowns on Human Rights Defenders, İHD and İHD Managers”.

The information that 10 Human Rights Association (İHD) managers were dismissed and 225 lawsuits and investigations have been brought against İHD members were included in the report.

10 rights defenders in seven cities were dismissed

The İHD members dismissed by statutory decrees are as follows:

İHD Secretary General Osman İşçi, İHD Ankara Branch Central Executive Board Member Adnan Vural, İzmir Branch Board Members Mine Çetinkaya, Caner Canlı, Eylem Temiz, Dersim Branch Chair Gürbüz Solmaz, Maraş Branch Chair Selçuk Delibaş, Sakarya Branch Board Member Kamber Göçer, Elazığ Branch Chair Behzat Hazır and İskenderun Branch Chair Coşkun Selçuk.

Call from UN human rights experts

The following call made by the UN human rights experts on January 17, 2018 urging Turkey to end the State of Emergency was stressed in the report:

“We remain concerned, as we have since the attempted coup, that the Government is taking steps at odds with its obligations under human rights law.

“We are deeply worried about severe crackdowns on civil society, including journalists, the media, human rights defenders, jurists, academics, and civil servants, as well as the use of various powers in ways that are inconsistent with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.” (AS/TK)