UN Human Rights Committee says Serbia should delay the extradition to Ankara of the Kurdish activist Ecevit Piroglu until it has reviewed his case.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) inspects the honour guard with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (R) in Belgrade, Serbia, October 7, 2019. Photo by EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC
The United Nations Human Rights Committee on June 2 asked Serbia to delay the extradition of Ecevit Piroglu, a Kurdish politician and activist wanted by Turkey, until it reviews the case.
“The Committee has decided to request the State party to refrain from deporting the complainant to Turkey while his case is under consideration by the Committee,” the decision, obtained by BIRN, says.
A final hearing was supposed to be held on Friday on the extradition of Piroglu, the former director of the Human Rights Association’s branch in the Turkish city of Izmir and a central committee member of the Socialist Democracy Party, SDP.
It is expected that the UN decision will delay his deportation unless Serbia decides not to respect the decision.
Based on documents that the Turkish authorities presented, the Belgrade Higher Court ruled on April 20 that “the circumstances for his extradition have been met”.
But Serbian, Turkish and international rights groups have since asked Serbia to allow him to seek asylum in Serbia. An advocacy group, Freedom for Ecevit Piroglu, was due to hold a protest against his deportation in Belgrade on Friday.
Piroglu faces trial for terrorism over his role in the 2013 Gezi Park protests, a nationwide street movement against the authoritarian policies of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. He could face 30 years in prison.
Piroglu is on the Turkish police’s “red list” of people wanted for terrorism.
According to the Turkish court documents, which BIRN has seen, the authorities accuse him of being a member of an “armed terrorist organisation”, the Revolutionary Communard Party/United Freedom Forces, DKP/BOG.
The documents also claim that Piroglu joined the Syrian Democratic Forces, PYD and fought alongside with Kurdish militants in northern Syria. These claims are based on the testimony of secret witnesses.
Turkey considers the PYD the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, which has been fighting for decades for Kurdish autonomy.
Following a failed coup attempt in 2016, Turkish President Erdogan launched a massive crackdown on his opponents.
Erdogan’s government has since pressured Balkan states to extradite wanted Turkish fugitives, including supporters of the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara accuses of masterminding the 2016 coup attempt, as well as Kurdish politicians and activists.
In 2018, Serbia extradited Cevdet Ayaz, a Kurdish politician, to Turkey over similar terrorism charges – despite appeals from rights groups and a decision by the UN Committee against Torture, saying he should not be forcibly removed until his case was fully considered.
Several other Turkish citizens have been threatened with extradition from Serbia to Turkey in last several years.
Source link: balkaninsight.com
