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Dear Madame/Sir,
We are happy to inform you that 13th High Criminal
Court has just issued interlocutory decision of release for Şebnem
Korur Fincancı (President of Human Rights Foundation of Turkey,
HRFT) and Erol Önderoğlu (Turkey Representative of Reporters without
Borders), who were arrested together with Ahmet Nesin (Journalist)
on 20 June 2016 on charges of “making terror propaganda” through
content and visual of news of Özgür Gündem when they served as the
editors-in-chief for one day as a part of the Editor-in-chief on
Duty” campaign of Özgür Gündem to provide solidarity and defend
press freedom against a number of investigations it has faced. We
are expecting that they will be released today. Their first court
hearing will be held on 8 November 2016.
While Şebnem Korur Fincancı and Erol Önderoğlu
will be released today, there is not any decision about Ahmet Nesin
(journalist) yet since his case is followed by a different court. We
will of course continue to follow his case closely.
We can say that this decision of release is a
hopeful development and somehow reparation for suppression against
human rights defenders in Turkey. Yet, we should not forget that
this decision cannot eliminate lawlessness and insubstantiality of
the case against them, which also means violation of human rights.
Thus, we will work on showing the public what this arrest and case
against Şebnem Korur Fincancı, who has dedicated her life to
preventing human rights violations, mainly torture and illtreatment
supporting life of torture survivors in Turkey and all around the
world to rebuild their lives; and pursuing justice for the crime of
torture and other gross/serious human rights violations, means for
human rights defenders in Turkey.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank
you for your valuable efforts and solidarity for their release; it
had a great contribution to having this good news.
Sincerely yours,
Metin Bakkalcı
Secretary General of HRFT
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