EuroMed Rights strongly condemns the arrest yesterday of Raci Bilici, İHD’s Vice President and Diyarbakır Branch President.
Wednesday 15 March, Raci Bilici has been detained in the early hours of the morning, right after his house has been searched by the police. He is currently held in detention together with 10 other representatives of various NGOs in Diyarbakır. Given the confidentiality order on the investigation, Raci Bilici’s charges remain unclear.
EuroMed Rights is very concerned by this arrest. Indeed, over the last months, the right to personal security has been nearly annihilated with practices under the State of Emergency and Decree-laws of the State of Emergency that are not in compliance with the Constitution and international principles. Almost every day, human rights defenders are being detained, set free with judicial control decisions, interrogated or arrested on the grounds of social media shares, etc. This systematic crackdown by the Turkish authorities is very worrying: the harassment of human rights defenders must stop.
EuroMed Rights urges the international community, including the EU, to ensure that Turkey stops all measures of judicial and administrative harassment against human rights defenders and the independent civil society. We demand the immediate release of Raci Bilici, together with the other NGOs’ detained representatives.