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Solidarity with Human Rights Defenders in Turkey

The hearing of Prof. Dr Şebnem Korur Fincancı (HRFT President), Erol Önderoğlu (Reporters Without Borders’ representative in Turkey) and Ahmet Nesin (journalist and writer) will take place this Wednesday 11 January 2017.

We express our solidarity with them and all human rights defenders in Turkey who are striving for justice and human rights and call for the charges to be dropped. Freedom of expression and the press are a key pillar to a democratic society.

The three human rights defenders were arrested on 20 June 2016 and released 10 days later, thanks to the support of human rights defenders on the national and international level. They remain on trial for serving as the editors-in-chief-on-watch for one day, in solidarity with the newspaper Özgür Gündem, which was forcibly closed down on 16 August 2016 by the 8th Magistrates Court of Istanbul on grounds of publishing “terror propaganda” allegedly supporting the PKK.

Other prominent collaborators of the newspapers were arrested and held in custody for months, in particular novelist and Özgür Gündem columnist Aslı Erdoğan, editor in-chief Zana Kaya and linguist Necmiye Alpay, who were arrested in August and released on 29 December 2016.

Fincancı, Önderoğlu and Nesin are accused of “provoking commission of an offence”, “praising the offence and the offenders” and ”making propaganda of a terrorist organisation through means of press”. Their first hearing was held on 8 November 2016 and they are facing up to 14 years in jail.