Following a decision by an Izmir court last night not to release the chair of Amnesty Turkey and human rights defender Taner Kılıç, Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General said:
“Over the space of 24 hours we have seen the twin hands of Turkey’s fickle justice system at play. While one grants liberty, the other, confronted with no less baseless charges, takes it away.”
“The release of the Istanbul 10 late on Wednesday night restored some faith in Turkey’s justice system. Now, that faith has been washed away.
“Turkish authorities have repeatedly and publicly presumed Taner Kılıç’s guilt, on the basis of innuendo and unsupported allegations.
“We will continue undaunted to campaign for the release of our chair and the dropping of the charges against all human rights defenders in Turkey.”
