Resumen de Turkish dismay
Corillon talks about why scientists and doctors need to stand up for colleagues being unjustly jailed in Turkey and elsewhere. This month, five medical doctors and a chemical engineer, all former university rectors, were jailed in the Ergenekon trial. It involved 275 defendants, mainly high-ranking military officers, accused of a conspiracy. They face harsh sentences and in one case a further, similar trial. In February, on behalf of the international Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies, she went on a fact-finding mission to Turkey, accompanied by US Nobel laurette in economics Peter Diamond, and the German professor and surgeon Hans-Peter Zener. They concluded that evidence against them was lacking, and that those in prison should be freed and, if necessary, given another trial--one that meets international standards. They urged that the sentences of those now released be abrogated and that the Turkish judiciary take immediate and concrete steps to ensure other trials are expedited and meet international standards.
