Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland today had a phone conversation with the Turkish Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül. They discussed the latest developments regarding human rights defenders, including the Director and Chair of Amnesty International Turkey, Idil Eser and Taner Kiliç, as well as two trainers from Germany and Sweden who are held in pre-trial detention.

Secretary General Jagland said “I called for their release. I told the Minister of Justice that pre-trial detention should be a measure of last resort. Deprivation of liberty is only permissible in strictly defined cases. A person charged with an offence must always be released pending trial unless the State can show that there are « relevant and sufficient » reasons to justify the continued detention. In this regard, general and abstract arguments are not sufficient. The Turkish judiciary should apply the European Convention on Human Rights and the principles set in the case-law of the Strasbourg Court.”