Turkey sets Amnesty country chair Taner Kilic free
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkey released Amnesty International country chair Taner Kilic on Wednesday after spending 14 months in jail for charges of ties to an alleged terror organization.
“We are overjoyed at this news. It has taken us more than a year of campaigning and struggle to get here but Taner has finally been freed and is safely back at the arms of his wife and daughters," said Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International’s new secretary general in a statement on Wednesday.
A court in Istanbul issued the release order. Kilic had a court date scheduled for November 7. He was first arrested in a police raid on Buyukada Island on July 2017. In January, a court ruled for his conditional release, but he was arrested again the following deal after a prosecutor's appeal.
"It has taken us more than a year of campaigning and struggle to get here but Taner has finally been freed and is safely back at the arms of his wife and daughters," added Naidoo.
The government claimed he downloaded and used the encrypted ByLock messaging application on his cell phone. The prosecution previously provided state records of his phone number downloading the app in August 2014.
However, two forensic analyses of Taner's phone found "no trace" of the app ever being on his phone, according to previous Amnesty reports.
Turkey did not extend its state-of-emergency after its snap election in June. Constitutional changes effectively allow crackdowns on state dissent.
"Beneath the smiles of joy and relief there is a steely determination to continue our fight for human rights in Turkey and for the release of all those human rights defenders, journalists and others who have been unjustly jailed in the vicious crackdown," said Naidoo.
His charges carried terms of up to 15 years in prison.
“We are overjoyed at this news. It has taken us more than a year of campaigning and struggle to get here but Taner has finally been freed and is safely back at the arms of his wife and daughters," said Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International’s new secretary general in a statement on Wednesday.
A court in Istanbul issued the release order. Kilic had a court date scheduled for November 7. He was first arrested in a police raid on Buyukada Island on July 2017. In January, a court ruled for his conditional release, but he was arrested again the following deal after a prosecutor's appeal.
"It has taken us more than a year of campaigning and struggle to get here but Taner has finally been freed and is safely back at the arms of his wife and daughters," added Naidoo.
The government claimed he downloaded and used the encrypted ByLock messaging application on his cell phone. The prosecution previously provided state records of his phone number downloading the app in August 2014.
However, two forensic analyses of Taner's phone found "no trace" of the app ever being on his phone, according to previous Amnesty reports.
Turkey did not extend its state-of-emergency after its snap election in June. Constitutional changes effectively allow crackdowns on state dissent.
"Beneath the smiles of joy and relief there is a steely determination to continue our fight for human rights in Turkey and for the release of all those human rights defenders, journalists and others who have been unjustly jailed in the vicious crackdown," said Naidoo.
Ankara believes Fethullah Gulen and his followers orchestrated the failed 2016 military coup using the encrypted ByLock app enforcement.
His charges carried terms of up to 15 years in prison.