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The president of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, Theodor Meron, said on Tuesday that the UN secretary-general’s decision not to extend judge Aydin Sefa Akay’s mandate after Turkey called for his removal was a “dangerous precedent”.
“I express deep regret regarding, and respectful disagreement with, the decision not to reappoint my valued and esteemed colleague, Judge Akay, and my grave concerns about the far-reaching consequences this decision will have for our institution and for international criminal justice more generally,” Meron said.
Turkey had called for judge Akay to be removed from his position at the UN-backed Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals after he was convicted earlier this month of belonging to an organisation led by exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, which Ankara claims is a terrorist group that led the attempted coup in July 2016.
Akay was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison by the Turkish court, but the UN sees his arrest and conviction as a breach of the diplomatic immunity that the judge enjoys due to his position at the international judicial body.
“The acquiescence to the position advanced by the Government of Turkey represents a de facto acceptance of a state’s actions undertaken in contravention of the diplomatic immunity asserted by the United Nations,” Meron argued.
“If states are permitted to take action against a judge in violation of the applicable international legal framework, judicial independence – a cornerstone principle of the rule of law – and the integrity of our court as such are fundamentally at risk, as is the overall project of international criminal justice,” he added.
Akay was convicted of terrorism offences for using ByLock, an encrypted messenging application that the Turkish government believes was used by Gulen supporters for plotting to subvert the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The judge denied any wrongdoing and is now appealing against his conviction.
Tens of thousands of other officials have been arrested in Turkey in a wide-ranging crackdown since the coup attempt. Fethullah Gulen, who lives in exile in the US, has denied any involvement.
The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals is a temporary UN body founded to complete the work of the international criminal tribunals that prosecuted war crimes suspects from the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
