KHRP Mission Observes High-Profile Death in Custody Case and Conducts Training Seminar on Torture |
Mark Himsworth with Ali Tekin, father of Engin
KHRP mission member Mark Himsworth, a London-based barrister specialising in criminal law, interviewed a member of Çeber’s family and others who were detained with him. He also met with representatives of prominent human rights organisations, including the Contemporary Lawyers Association and the Human Rights Commission of the Turkish Medical Association, Istanbul Branch. He subsequently attended the Bakırköy Heavy Crime Court Number 14 in İstanbul on 4 March to observe the proceedings in person. At the conclusion of the day’s hearing, the judges overseeing the case announced that they would be withdrawing from the trial following accusations from lawyers representing the complainants that they had displayed a bias in favour of the defence. The court proceedings are due to resume on 15 April.
‘Training and trial observations of the kind carried out by this mission work hand-in-hand to promote respect for international human rights standards, to monitor their implementation and to strengthen the capacity of local advocates to take over these tasks,’ said KHRP Executive Director Kerim Yıldız. ‘Despite the government’s self-declared “zero tolerance” policy on torture, cases like this clearly underline that there is still a very real need for such work in Turkey.’
The findings of the trial observation mission will be published by KHRP in the coming weeks and more in-depth reports on both the trial observation and the training will be available in the upcoming edition of our quarterly newsletter Newsline.
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