STARSBOURG
Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities has examined a report on the situation of Leyla Guven and other local elected representatives in detention in Turkey.
Following their second visit to Leyla Guven in Diyarbakir prison on 7 December 2013, the Congress rapporteurs, Anders Knape, Sweden, and Leen Verbeek, The Netherlands, pointed out that 15 mayors, 23 deputy mayors and dozens of municipal councilors had been in detained on remand for years.
“Leyla Guven was arrested on 29 December 2009, while she was mayor of Viranşehir and member of the Congress. More than four years later, she is still in detention. She has been on trial since 2010, with no end to her trial in sight,” said Knape. “Such detentions constitute a serious obstacle to the democratic process in Turkey and also raise serious questions about the rule of law and the protection of human rights in this country,”, he added.
The rapporteurs also noted that as a result of a recent ruling of the Turkish Constitutional Court, all the members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly who had been detained in similar circumstances and for the same reasons as Leyla Güven had now been freed.
“We invite the Turkish authorities to apply the same standards and principles to local elected politicians as it does to its members of parliament, and therefore to release Leyla Guven and all the Turkish local elected representatives who find themselves in a similar situation” said Leen Verbeek.
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