Top UN judge urges Turkey to free one of his justices

A leading U.N. war crimes judge Wednesday called on Turkey to free one his justices rounded up in September as part of the Turkish probe into the failed coup.


The detention of Aydin Sefa Akay, 66, has paralyzed an appeals hearing in Rwanda, judge Theodor Meron, the president of the U.N.'s Mechanism for International Tribunals, told the United Nations.

Due to Akay's detention "the proceedings to which he has been assigned have necessarily come to a standstill," Meron said in a speech in New York.

Akay is part of a five-judge bench appointed in July by Meron to hear an appeal brought by Augustin Ngirabatware. The former Rwandan minister was convicted in 2012 for his role in the 1994 genocide, but his original 35-year jail term was reduced on appeal in 2014 to 30 years. He is now appealing the two rulings.

Meron, who is the president of the U.N. body set up in The Hague and Arusha to oversee any residual hearings by the Rwanda court as well as the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, said Akay had had diplomatic immunity when he was detained on Sept. 21.
 [dailystar.com.lb/AFP]
9/11/16
-
Related:

• Turkey to Conditionally Release Some 38,000 Prisoners - Justice Minister
• Human Rights Watch says state of emergency gives Turkey ‘blank check’ to mistreat suspects
• Turkey government seemed to have list of arrests prepared: Johannes Hahn