ECtHR, DEUXIÈME SECTION DÉCISION Requête no 56511/16 Zeynep MERCAN contre la Turquie,  An application concerning the lawfulness of a judge’s pre-trial detention following the coup d’état of 15 July 2016 has been rejected for failure to exhaust domestic remedies In its decision in the case of Mercan v. Turkey (application no. 56511/16) the European Court of Human Rights has unanimously declared the application inadmissible. The decision is final. The case concerned the pre-trial detention of a judge who was dismissed from office following the attempted coup d’état of 15 July 2016. The Court held, in particular, that Ms Mercan was required to lodge an individual application with the Constitutional Court with regard to…

AKP targets judicial independence in latest post-coup takedown by Sibel Hürtaş* ( Source:  http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/en/originals/2016/11/turkey-silenced-critical-judges.html Turkish and English Version) The Association of Judges and Prosecutors (YARSAV), the first nongovernmental organization of judiciary members in Turkey, was dissolved and its chairman landed behind bars after the July 15 coup attempt. Following the closure order, part of the first emergency-rule decree issued soon after the putsch, the Justice Ministry sent letters of the international bodies to which YARSAV was a member, asking them to admit as its replacement a group with ties to the government. The move is yet another example of Ankara’s tactic of disabling critical institutions and replacing them with pro-government ones. YARSAV’s case is especially ironic…

Quelques reflexions interessante de Nicolas Bueno sur la notion de la démocratie dans sa thèse “Le droit de prendre son destin en main – le droit international e la démocratie et l’avenir des droits politiques, Diss. Lausanne 2014, Stämpfli Editions 2015:   “[..] D’une part, la démocratie ne se résume pas à la tenure d’élections. D’autre part, la démocratie est une question de degré et non de genre. La démocratie dépend en effet du degré auquel les individus peuvent contrôler les décisions publiques et du degré auquel les individus sont égaux lorsqu’ils exercent ce contrôle.   Ceci étant dit, le lien entre la démocratie et les droits de l’homme est…

PROSECUTOR SEYFETTIN YIGIT WHO WAS FOUND DEAD IN PRISON WAS BLACKLISTED AS OPPONENT BY THE YBP IN 2014 Prosecutor Seyfettin Yigit who died in prison after suspicious suicide(!) blacklisted as opponent by pro-government Judges Association (YBP). It was told that he was found hanging in the prison bathroom on Sept. 16. Seyfettin Yiğit was among those prosecutors who oversaw an investigation into allegations of irregularities within the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKI) in late 2013.   Sources: http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/turkiye/601374/_FETO_den_tutuklanip_cezaevinde_olu_bulunan_savcinin_kizi__Bu_intihar_degil__cinayet.html http://www.turkeytms.com/2016/09/16/another-inmate-a-prosecutor-found-dead-in-turkish-prison/ http://turkeypurge.com/suspicious-deaths-suicides-become-common-occurrence-in-post-coup-turkey   Please find attached the the page of the YBP List

  Author: anonymous for security reasons (identity known to the blog editor)

Could you please share the info with both amnesty international and human rights watch: The government is seriously planning to get rid of many inmates. I know that sounds crazy. Today, the number of people who committed “suicide(!)” in jail has reached  22. This is impossible!!! X. (Judge from Turkey)

  P.S.: Why were Yarsav candidates no real competition? YARSAV, as an institution means a lot for Turkish judiciary. YARSAV is the only independent Judicial association, the voice of the judiciary at both national and international platforms. YARSAV has a strong institutional culture and experience and its reputation arises from its activities. Judges and the public know YARSAV very well but they dont know much about its administration and members by names. YARSAV’s public remarks have been signed like this ” the Board of Directors” without names. In 2010 and in 2014 YARSAV’s candidates did not get remarkable number of votes. In terms of HSYK elections Yarsav does not pose serious threat to the…

Unfortunately I have the same terrible concern. It can be expected such heineous attacks to inmates and also assassinations to prominent figures. Please don’t consider these expectations as exaggeration. Please once more attempt to protect people!!! I believe the best way is to send international observers. If this is not possible please persuade relevant institutions to make public remarks on the situations in prisons. Please note that up to now what we have expected mostly occurred. This is step by step plan to silence permanently all opposition. This is dead end. No way they will back to rule of law and democracy but at least they can be stopped before…

NOVEMBER 5, 2016 Since the failed coup attempt (July 15, 2016), 170 newspapers, magazines, television stations and news agencies have been shut down[1], and a total of about 110,000 people have been sacked or suspended and 37,000 arrested. Nine journalists from Turkey’s pro-opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet have been arrested and remanded in custody by a court in Istanbul.[2] Recently, the government has removed 30 Kurdish mayors from office, suspended more than 11,000 teachers from Kurdish regions and shut at least 20 Kurdish media outlets, including a children’s television station that dubbed cartoons such as “The Smurfs” into Kurdish.[3] 11 lawmakers from People’s Democratic Party, or HDP (known as pro-Kurdish political party)…