Turkije - willekeurige hechtenis
HGL 06/98
Door marteling verkregen schuldverklaring:
doodstraf
(plaats, datum)
Your Excellency,
I respectfully draw your attention to the following.
Selahattin Simsek has spent the last 18 years in prison. He has always strenuously protested his innocence. He was convicted after an unfair trial and his detention has been ruled arbitrary by the UN.
Simsek was convicted and sentenced to death in 1983 for murder and robbery carried out in the name of the Kurdish Workers’ Party. In 1991 his death sentence was commuted to 20 years’ imprisonment.
Before his trial he was tortured for more than four weeks. His statement, extracted under torture, formed the basis of his conviction - along with statements obtained from other detainees who were allegedly tortured.
Throughout the trial his lawyer was prevented from speaking and during the concluding stages of the trial the charges against him were replaced with more serious ones.
In 1995 the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared Selahattin Simsek’s detention to be arbitrary and called upon your government to remedy the situation.
I ask you most respectfully to grant Selahattin Simsek a retrial in accordance with recognised international standards and the recommendations of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, or else to release him.
I look forward to receiving your response in the near future.
Yours sincerely,
(Uw naam, adres, woonplaats)