Head of UN criminal tribunal calls on Turkey to release UN judge

A Turkish judge working for a UN criminal tribunal who had been detained by Turkey in the aftermath of a failed coup in the country must be released and allowed to perform his judicial duties, the head judge of the court said on Thursday.

Judge Aydin Sefa Akay was arrested in September and has been held since despite his diplomatic immunity as a UN judge, said Theodor Meron, president of the mechanism created to finish the work of the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

At the time of his arrest, Akay was working as a judge in an appeals case connected to the Rwandan genocide. The case is currently pending due to Akay's detention.

The UN judge was arrested for his alleged connection to the failed July 15 coup in Turkey.

The country has arrested more than 36,000 people since the coup.

"I appeal to the government of Turkey, with its strong legal traditions stretching back for many centuries, to release Judge Akay in the spirit of humanitarianism so as to enable him to perform his judicial duties," Meron told the UN Security Council.

He also called on the Security Council, which set up the criminal tribunals, to do its utmost to "bring about a timely and satisfactory resolution of this situation."

Meron said he was not going to replace Akay to allow the case to proceed because such a move couldn't be reconciled with the principle of judicial independence, which was meant to be guaranteed partly by the diplomatic immunity granted to UN judges.

"This option is simply not open to me as a matter of law and justice," he said.    (dpa)

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