{"id":9049,"date":"2012-01-21T15:51:17","date_gmt":"2012-01-21T15:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/?p=9049"},"modified":"2012-01-21T15:51:17","modified_gmt":"2012-01-21T15:51:17","slug":"coe-official-shocked-by-dink-verdict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/?p=9049","title":{"rendered":"CoE official shocked by Dink verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"

Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg stated in \u0569\u0084\u0539\u055bstanbul on Friday that he was ”shocked” by the court\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s decision to acquit all 19 suspects of membership in a terrorist organization in the 2007 murder of Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>Hammarberg, during a discussion on the newly released Turkish translation of his \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Human Rights in Europe\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d report, echoed the surprise of the Turkish public in the wake of Tuesday\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s verdict, Today\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s Zaman reported.<\/p>\n

”I was very surprised by the court\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s ruling on Tuesday. I was even more surprised to hear the prosecutor and judge in the case were also dissatisfied with the outcome, ” the commissioner said.<\/p>\n

The Dink case\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s presiding judge, Rustem Ery\u0569\u0084\u0539\u055elmaz, was quoted told the Vatan daily on Thursday that, while he personally cannot deny the murder was well-organized, the evidence submitted to the court was not sufficient to issue such a ruling.<\/p>\n

”Then why did they close the case? I am surprised a judge could say this and close the case. He [Ery\u0569\u0084\u0539\u055elmaz] could have won more time by asking for clarification, ” Hammarberg said.<\/p>\n

In his report on human rights shortcomings across Europe, Hammarberg mentioned Dink along with other journalists who were murdered in Europe for simply doing their jobs. According to the report, which was published before this week\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s verdict ”No effort must be spared in apprehending and bringing to justice not only the actual killers, but also those who ordered these murders. ”<\/p>\n

Hammarberg on Wednesday joined march to commemorate the death of the assassinated editor-in-chief. \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093I was there for the march and saw the demonstrations. It was all very impressive, not only because of the number of people but also because the majority of people there were ordinary Turks,\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d he said. Calling the marches a \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093signal\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d that there is a lack of trust in Turkish authorities, Hammarberg argued that people clearly demonstrated they do not accept the court ruling.<\/p>\n

”The Dink murder verdict is absolutely a test case, ” noted Hammarberg, saying it is crucial that everyone involved in the murder and cover-up must be identified and prosecuted. If not, the gap between the public at large and the government will continue to widen, as in countries around Europe, he argued. One of the grossest human rights violation in the opinion of the point man of the CoE\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s Human Rights Commission is the number of detainees across Europe Hammarberg is convinced are innocent.
\n\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093I am convinced there are a number of innocent people in prisons in Europe. I make visits to these prisons regularly not only to check that the walls are painted and the food is good, but also to talk with and listen to the imprisoned people there. And I must say the cases against a number of them are very thin,\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

Many of the detainees he has met with have not yet seen the courtroom. \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093In some countries, more than half of those in prisons are pre-trial detainees,\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d Hammarberg said.<\/p>\n

But Hammarberg, concluding the event on a positive note, explained why he remains hopeful about the expansion of human rights in Turkey.<\/p>\n

\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093There are so many problems and shortcomings, yes. But the way we should respond is to put concrete demands in front of those who make the decisions,\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d the human rights commissioner said.<\/p>\n

Giving a historical perspective to the global human rights struggle, Hammarberg recalled the United Nation\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s progressive drafting and implementation in 1948 of the first universal declaration of human rights. \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093This document easily could have been shelved, but it became the starting point for a global movement,\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d he said. If the UN declaration was a spark, Hammarberg stressed it was civil society that fueled their governments to change.<\/p>\n

\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093The question is: do we have the desire and energy to build on that historic document and momentum? When you talk with people, they do want human rights not just for themselves but others as well. We have active civil society groups, and this is the basis for optimism,\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

Hammarberg made a call for the continued enhancement of human rights around the world. \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093After all, what is life about if people are not fairly treated, don\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7t have the right to speak and don\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7t enjoy decent standards of living?\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d
\n\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tert.am<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg stated in \u0569\u0084\u0539\u055bstanbul on Friday that he was ”shocked” by the court\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s decision to acquit all 19 suspects of membership in a terrorist organization in […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9049"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9051,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9049\/revisions\/9051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}