Mehmet Osman Kavala v. Turkey (Application no. 28749/18)

TLSP and PEN International submitted written comments on 16 January 2019 as third party interveners in the case of Mehmet Osman Kavala v. Turkey (Application no. 28749/18) concerning pre-trial detention of a prominent civil society leader, publisher and human rights defender (HRD). The submission provides the Court with an outline of the factual context in respect of the situation of HRDs in Turkey. It addresses international standards governing the nature of states obligations towards HRDs and reflects on principles of human rights and criminal law that constrain a rule of law approach to resort to criminal law.

Our written comments are available here. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights also intervened in this case on 20 December 2018. Her submission can be found here.

Tunc and Yerbasan v. Turkey (Applications nos 4133/16 and 31542/16)

Hearing on Tunc and Yerbasan v. Turkey (Applications nos 4133/16 and 31542/16) was held on 13 November 2018 before the ECtHR.  Prof Helen Duffy was present at the hearing as advisors to the lawyers of the Applicants. The webcast of the hearing can be watched here.

Telek and two other applications v. Turkey

ECtHR communicated the case of Telek and two other applications v. Turkey on 26 September 2018. The case concerns the inability to travel abroad by the applicants, who were the signatories of the Academics for Peace petition, due the cancellation or non-renewal of their passports for an indefinite period of time under the state of emergency ruling. The communication of the Court can be found here.