OPEN LETTER for the release of Turkish conscientious objector and human rights activist Halil Savda

To:    President of the Republic of Turkey
Mr. Abdullah Gül
Fax: +90 312 470 1316
E-mail: cumhurbaskanligi@tccb.gov.tr

Cc:    Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey
Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Fax: +90 312 422 1899
E-mail: receptayyip.erdogan@basbakanlik.gov.tr
Brussels, 13 March 2012

Dear Mr. President,

On behalf of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), I am writing to you to express our grave concern about the case of Turkish conscientious objector and human rights activist Halil Savda and call for his immediate and unconditional release.
On 24 February 2012, Halil Savda was arrested to serve a 100 days sentence for "alienating the people from the military", according to Article 318 of Turkish penal code, because on 1 August 2006 he publicly expressed his solidarity with Israeli conscientious objectors Itzik Shabbat and Amir Pastar, who were imprisoned for refusing to participate in Israel's war in Lebanon. In June 2008 Halil Savda received a sentence for this, which was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeals in November 2010 and communicated to him in February 2011.

EBCO notes that this is not the first time that Halil Savda is imprisoned for reasons of conscience. He has also served a total of 17 months in military prison over a period of five years for his conscientious objection to military service in 2004. In 2008, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention came to the conclusion that these imprisonments were arbitrary (Opinion 16/2008).
EBCO is also deeply concerned because Halil Savda faces another six-month prison sentence for breaching Article 318, handed down in June 2010, which is being considered by the Supreme Court of Appeals, and because there are still other cases pending against him under Article 318.

The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection calls on you to withdraw all charges against Halil Savda, release him immediately and unconditionally and provide effective remedy to him because his human rights and fundamental freedoms have been violated; namely the right to freedom of expression and the right to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law. Furthermore, we call on you to abolish Article 318 of the Turkish Penal Code because it violates the right to freedom of expression, guaranteed also by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Turkey is a state party.

Yours sincerely,

Friedhelm Schneider
President of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection