A Council of Europe body on Friday voiced hope a youth delegate detained in Turkey for criticizing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government would be released immediately.
Enes Hocaogullari, 23, was detained last month as he arrived at Ankara airport. He had been targeted by Turkish authorities after a March speech at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities -- a body of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe -- where he condemned "democratic backsliding" and "human rights violations" in Turkey.
The Congress is a pan-European political assembly that promotes local and regional democracy across the 46 member states of the Council of Europe.
Turkey is a member of the Council.
Hocaogullari's speech came days after the March 19 arrest of Istanbul's opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu over graft allegations.
Hocaogullari, a human and LGBTQ rights activist, has been detained in Sincan prison on the outskirts of Ankara and due to appear before a judge on Monday.
A delegation from the Strasbourg-based Congress, which met with Turkish officials as part of a fact-finding mission, said in a statement they "have not heard anything that could justify the criminal prosecution".
"We hope that justice will prevail, that all charges will be dropped, that he will be immediately released and that Enes Hocaogulları will be back at our next session in October," it said in a statement.
The jailing of Istanbul's powerful mayor, Erdogan's key rival, sparked massive street protests across Turkey.
In an address to the Congress, Hocaogulları also lashed out at Turkish police for using "disproportionate brutality" against protesters.
They detained nearly 2,000 protesters including students and journalists, most of whom have since been released.
AFP
Comments