The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), published a report entitled “Turkey: Human Rights Defenders, guilty until proven innocent”, which analyses the situation of human rights defenders in Turkey. <br /><br />“A comprehensive overhaul of the Turkish legal system is today more than needed to improve the environment of operation of human rights defenders. Justice is used as a weapon to repress, intimidate and punish human rights defenders, through criminal proceedings that blatantly violate the right to a fair trial”, says FIDH President. <br /><br />“We fear that these continuous proceedings may lead the civil society to develop a certain degree of self-censorship, precisely at a time when a strong and critical human rights community that operate under the protective reach of the law is needed", the Secretary General of OMCT added.
