On April 12, 2014, the Diyarbakir Heavy Penal Court No. 2 decided to release Mr. Muharrem Erbey, human rights lawyer, Vice-President of the Human Rights Association (İHD), former President of the İHD’s branch office in Diyarbakır and recipient of the Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize for 2012, for “lack of evidence”. Mr. Erbey has been suffering protracted pre-trial detention for more than four years and is being prosecuted with 174 other Kurdish figures.
During this preliminary hearing, the provisional release of 48 of the accused was discussed. 38 were released pursuant to the five-year limit of detention and ten, including Mr. Erbey, were released for lack of evidence. However, charges remain pending against them. The trial was postponed until July 7, 2014. To date, 43 remained in jail. This move follows the closure of the Diyarbakir Special Heavy Penal Court No. 6, which had been in charge of the trial since October 2010, pursuant to the reform of the Turkish Penal Procedure Code that ordered the closure of all specialised heavy penal courts. Accordingly, the case was transferred to the Diyarbakir Heavy Penal Court No. 2.
“We welcome the decision of the court to release Mr. Muharrem Erbey after more than 4 years in pre-trial detention. However, he should never have been detained in the first place”, FIDH President Karim Lahidji said. “His trial is hanging over his head like a sword of Damocles. All charges against Mr. Erbey should be dropped. And the Turkish authorities should recognise the legitimacy of human rights work, which should never be labelled as terrorism offences”, he further urged.
“Although we are relieved that Mr. Muharrem Erbey is now out of jail, we are concerned about the persistence of charges against him. His prosecution represents a gross miscarriage of justice and is yet another blow to the credibility of Turkey’s judicial system, which continues to be used as a weapon to repress legitimate human rights activities”, OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock said. “The Turkish authorities should release all human rights activists currently detained and drop all the charges against them”, he further urged.
The facts and circumstances of Mr. Erbey’s arrest, as well as a thorough examination of the charges and evidence produced against him, clearly suggested that his prosecution was carried out in retaliation for his activities as a high-profile human rights lawyer. The judicial process has been marred by significant irregularities and the fundamental rights of the accused have been repeatedly violated. On December 24, 2009, Mr. Muharrem Erbey was arrested as part of mass counter-terrorism operations that in fact have little to do with countering terrorism, but rather have been used as a means of criminalising peaceful dissent and Kurdish political and cultural expression. His arrest was based on his alleged membership to the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), an organisation said to be the “urban branch” of the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). He was charged with “being a member of an illegal organisation”, pursuant to Article 314 of the Turkish Criminal Code. Mr. Erbey is facing a minimum sentence of 7,5 to 15 years in prison should he be found guilty.
The Observatory urges the authorities of Turkey to guarantee Mr. Erbey’s right to a fair trial and to refrain from further harassing human rights defenders, and to ensure they are able to carry out their work without hindrance or fear of reprisals. It also calls on the Turkish authorities to conform to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international and European human rights instruments ratified by Turkey.