On May 31, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a damning verdict against Turkey, ruling that the detention of Taner Kilic, the head of the Turkish branch of Amnesty International, in 2017 was unlawful.
The court found that there was no indication of an offence having been committed, and that Kilic's pre-trial detention was 'unlawful and arbitrary'. The verdict was agreed unanimously by seven judges, including Saadet Yuksel of Turkey.
Taner Kilic was detained in June 2017 on charges of links to US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey accuses of staging a failed coup in 2016 against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He was released in August 2018, but in July 2020, he was convicted of belonging to a terror group and sentenced to six years and three months in prison.
Amnesty International's Europe director, Nils Muiznieks, welcomed the verdict, saying, 'This long-awaited European Court ruling confirms what we have known from the start — that Taner Kilic was arbitrarily deprived of his liberty when jailed in a high security prison on trumped-up charges.'
Concerns remain over freedom of expression in Turkey in the wake of the 2016 coup bid, which saw an unprecedented crackdown against opponents of Erdogan. The Council of Europe has begun disciplinary proceedings against Turkey over its refusal to release philanthropist Osman Kavala in defiance of an ECHR ruling.
