Application to ECtHR for Journalist İdris Sayılğan

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The Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) and the London-based Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI) have jointly applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on behalf of journalist İdris Sayılğan, who has been behind bars for two years.

In the application submitted to the ECtHR, it has been indicated that Sayılğan's rights to liberty and security, fair trial, freedom of expression and effective remedy, which have been respectively protected in the Articles no. 5, 6, 10 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights, have been violated by the authorities in Turkey.

Speaking about their application to the ECtHR, MLSA Coordinator and Sayılğan's lawyer Veysel Ok has said, "This is the first time in Turkey that an ECtHR application for a journalist is being filed together with an international organization. We believe that collaboration and solidarity with international organizations add strength to ECtHR applications."

İdris Sayılğan, who was a reporter at the Dicle News Agency (DİHA), which was closed as per a Statutory Decree, has been arrested on charges of "being a member of a terrorist organization" and "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" due to his news reports since October 24, 2016. His next hearing will be held on December 24, 2018. (BK/SD)