UN court orders Turkey to release judge in Rwanda genocide case
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A United Nations court called on Turkey to free a judge caught up in the country's post-coup crackdown. PHOTO | AFP
A United Nations court called on Turkey to free a judge caught up in the country's post-coup crackdown, saying Aydin Sefa Akay's imprisonment violates his diplomatic immunity and the principle of judicial independence.
Akay, both a UN judge and diplomat, is one of 40,000 Turkish officials who have been remanded in custody for alleged connections to July's failed military coup, blamed by authorities on followers of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen.
