Ahead of the first hearing of prominent human rights defender Nimet Tanrıkulu who has been in held in pre-trial detention since 29 November 2024, accused of ‘’membership to a terrorist organization”, Milena Buyum, Amnesty International’s Senior Türkiye Campaigner said:
“The accusations levelled against Nimet Tanrıkulu are baseless and the charges against her should be dropped. After more than three months behind bars she should be released immediately.”
Milena Buyum, Amnesty International’s Senior Türkiye Campaigner
“The accusations levelled against Nimet Tanrıkulu are baseless and the charges against her should be dropped. After more than three months behind bars she should be released immediately.
“Her prosecution is part of a wider pattern in Türkiye in which overly broad and vague anti-terrorism laws are used to target human rights defenders and silence dissenting voices, sending a chilling message to others in the process. The misuse of the criminal justice system to deter human rights defenders and others must end.”
Background
Nimet Tanrıkulu who has been held at Sincan women’s prison in Ankara since November 2024, was indicted for “membership of a terrorist organization” by a court in Ankara in December 2024, which also ruled that it had no jurisdiction due to Nimet Tanrıkulu’s place of residence and location of her detention being Istanbul. In January 2025, the prosecution file was sent to Istanbul and accepted by the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 24.
Amnesty International examined the questions Nimet Tanrıkulu was asked during interrogation as well as allegations in the indictment, namely her historic travel, participation in civil society events relating to Kurdish human rights issues during the 2013/14 peace process, mobile phone signals from same base station as other individuals and flawed witness statements. None of the accusations levelled against Nimet Tanrıkulu could be considered on their own as constituting material links with an armed group.
Amnesty International believes that the accusations in the indictment appear to be a series of inferences and vague allegations rather than rely on material evidence that demonstrate that she is guilty of having committed an internationally recognizable offence.
The first hearing in the prosecution will take place on 4 March at the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court no. 24.
