İHD Members Still Detained Despite Invalid Evidence

In the first hearing of the court case against 5 members of the Human Rights Association (İHD) the court decided to keep association executives and lawyers Filiz Kalaycı and Nedim Taş in detention. All 5 İHD members are tried under charges of "membership in an illegal organization". The case has been postponed to 28 January 2010.

İHD chairman Öztürk Türkdoğan told bianet that they are going to lodge an appeal regarding the detention of the 2 İHD members. Besides, Türkdoğan claimed that the evidence presented by the prosecutor is invalid.

The trial began on 9 November before the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court. Lawyers and İHD head office board members Hasan Anlar, Halil İbrahim Vargün and Murat Vargün are being prosecuted un-detained.

All 5 İHD members were arrested on 12 May. The court rejected the prosecutor's demand to detain them then and they were released 2 days later on 14 May. However, upon the objection of the prosecutor Taş and later on also Kalaycı were detained shortly after. Kalaycı worked on rights violations occurring during arrest and detention.

"They are still in detention because the prosecutor did not take certain statements"

Türkdoğan disclosed some irregularities of evidence and in the investigation as reasons for the appeal:

Taking a statement under police pressure: The prosecutor presents the statements of 2 people as evidence. However, these 2 people claimed in another trial that they were forced to make these statements under police pressure. Yet, the latter statements are not taken into account in the present case. We ensured that the file is going to be included into the case.

The prosecutor did not take certain statements: The prosecutor would have had to take the statements of these 2 people in the investigation phase. But he requested to hear them only in the first hearing. The court decided to continue the detention until these 2 people have been heard.

"Illegal evidence"

Email with unknown source: One of the pieces of evidence is an electronic mail of which neither the source nor the sender is known. Additionally, the prosecutor did not initiate an investigation about the computer in the internet café the message was sent from.

İHD announcements count as evidence: Our meetings and İHD press releases are presented as evidence. That is invalid as well.

2.5 years of telephone tapping: The phone lines of our members have been tapped due to a court decision since 2007. Phone tapping cannot last that long. This is illegal on its own.

Conditions of detention not fulfilled: Neither is the probability of obscuring evidence given, nor of our members' escape. Kalaycı is a human rights defender and a lawyer. And the evidence is invalid anyways.

Türkdoğan evaluates these issues as criminal violations of duty. He declared that they are going to wait for the end of the case in order not to influence the trial before they will file a criminal complaint about the prosecutor.

"Release the rights defenders"

In the meantime the European-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMRHN) demanded of Turkey to end the case and release Kalaycı.

The organization reminded a text of the European Council and the United Nations Organization considering the protection of human rights defenders. Furthermore, they called the European Commission Delegation and the European Union member state embassies to follow the case. (TK/VK)