2024-05-03 08:27:05
The applicant, born in 1950, began working as a legal advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey in 1987. Between 1989 and 2012, he held a number of positions, including at the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations as well as ‘at the Permanent Representation of Turkey to the Council of Europe, where he represented Turkey before the Court. Between 2012 and 2014, he served as Turkey’s ambassador to Burkina Faso and retired in 2015. Between 2003 and 2012, he served as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). On December 20, 2011, he was elected by the United Nations General Assembly as a judge to the Residual International Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals – the body which took over from the criminal tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia – for a four-year term starting July 1, 2012. On June 24, 2016, he was reappointed for a new two-year term by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. On July 25, 2016, the president of the Mechanism appointed him to be part of a panel of five judges responsible for handling a request for review of a judgment concerning a Rwandan convict.
In accordance with the procedure provided for the Mechanism, the complainant worked on this file remotely, from his home in Istanbul. As part of procedures opened following the attempted coup d’état in July 2016, the applicant was arrested at his home on September 21, 2016 and his home searched. He was subsequently placed in pre-trial detention, suspected of belonging to a terrorist organization due to the use of an application (ByLock) and the presence in his library of 2000 books of two works written by leaders of the organization FETÖ/PDY. All appeals once morest these decisions were rejected, despite the invocation of his immunity deduced from his capacity as a judge, including by United Nations bodies.
This judgment is followed by a separate concurring opinion from the Belgian judge, which notes the importance of protecting the independence of judges, national or international, and respecting their immunity. Independence requires that international judges, in the exercise of their judicial functions, remain free from any external authority, influence or pressure, including from the State of which they are a national or in which they reside. It is not simply a privilege for the judges themselves, but an essential tool for upholding the rule of law and ensuring the proper functioning of international justice.
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