A group of human rights activists who were detained on July 5 during a workshop at a hotel on İstanbul’s Büyükada were referred to court on the 12th day of their detention on Monday, t24 news website has reported.
After being interrogated at the anti-terror branch of the İstanbul Police Department, 10 human rights defenders, who are being accused of membership in a terrorist organization, were referred to the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan.
The human rights defenders are also accused by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and pro-government media of plotting a follow-up to a July 15, 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.
The detained activists are İdil Eser from the Amnesty International (AI), İlknur Üstün from the Women’s Coalition, lawyer Günal Kurşun from the Human Rights Agenda Association, lawyer Nalan Erkem from the Citizens Assembly, Nejat Taştan from the Equal Rights Watch Association, Özlem Dalkıran from the Citizens’ Assembly, lawyer Şeyhmuz Özbekli and Veli Acu from the Human Rights Agenda Association.
Two foreign trainers — a German and a Swedish national — as well as the hotel owner, who was later released, were also detained. (turkishminute.com) July 17, 2017
