EMHRN::Turkey: Stop judicial harassment against Human Rights Defenders

Copenhagen, Ankara – 14 February 2013: A delegation of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) was in Ankara from 11 to 14 February 2013[1]where it met with its member organisation IHD, the Ministry of Justice, the National Human Rights Institute, the EU Delegation and representatives of the European Parliament.
The EMHRN delegation visited and expressed its solidarity with and confidence in its Executive Committee member Osman ISCI, currently being held on charges of membership of an illegal organisation as a result of his trade union activities and position as human rights defender.
He and 71 others charged with the same offences should be put on trial shortly, 28 of them after 8 months of pre-trial detention.
  The EMHRN and IHD condemn the now-systematic use of accusations of membership of an illegal organization in proceedings that flout every requirement of a fair trial as the European Court of Human Rights has pointed out in many condemnations of Turkey.
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