Amnesty International’s former Turkey chairman, Taner Kilic, was accused of being a member of a “terror organization” and sentenced to over six years in prison by a Turkish court. Kilic was convicted alongside other activists with almost the same accusation, a ruling that Amnesty International and human rights groups worldwide have condemned.

The three other convicted activists include Gunal Kursun, Idil Eser, and Ozlem Dalkrian. These activists were convicted on charges of helping a “terror group” and were sentenced to one year and one month each in prison. While Kilic, Kursun, Eder, and Dlakrian were convicted, seven others were acquitted of the same charges, including German citizen Peter Steudtner and Swedish citizen Ali Gharavi.

All activists except Kilic were arrested during a police raid almost three years ago in July 2017; they were participating in a digital security training workshop in an island right off Istanbul. Kilic had been arrested a month prior in the city of Izmir.

Ten of the eleven defendants were charged with aiding “terrorist organizations” referring to US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen’s network. The Turkish government blames Gulen’s network for a coup attempt back in 2016, for which it has designated the composition as a terror group.

Fethullah Gulen’s has denied all allegations that he designed the coup attempt, or took part in its execution. Differing from the last charges, Kilic was accused of direct membership in Gulen’s network.

What authorities are claiming is that Kilic used an encrypted messaging application named ByLock in order to coordinate the coup, however a police report clearly states that Kilic did not have the application installed on his phone.

The activists had been accused of attempting to provoke “chaos in society”, charges that bear a resemblance to those brought against protesters in 2013 after anti-government demonstrations shook the country.

The trial these activists experienced escalated worries about Turkey’s treatment and attitude towards human rights defenders, and made already sour relations with European nations even more bitter, especially with Germany.

Amnesty International has said that the ruling was a “crushing blow for human rights and for justice” in Turkey. Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s Turkey researcher, observed the hearing and has said that “we have borne witness to a travesty of justice of spectacular proportions.”

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic measures, Turkish authorities allowed only a few number of observers into the court, meaning that numerous international observers and journalists had to stay outside and did not directly experience the trial.

The four activists who were convicted were expected to appeal the verdict, yet, alongside the remaining seven, they maintained their innocence throughout the entire trial.

“The court’s verdict defies logic and exposes this three-year trial as the politically motivated attempt to silence independent voices. […] It is tragic to see the part the Turkish justice system has played and continues to play in criminalizing the act of standing up for human rights.”

Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s Turkey researcher

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