Arrested Turkish UN judge files petition to Constitutional Court for diplomatic immunity

Arrested judge Aydın Sefa Akay, who also serves as a United Nations judge, has filed an appeal for his diplomatic immunity following the U.N. Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals' (MICT) rejection of Turkey's response to the U.N. Secretary-General, the MICT has told the Hürriyet Daily News. 

"In providing full diplomatic immunity, the Security Council makes no exception with respect to nationals of a state or specifies that they should receive only functional immunity, as is claimed by Turkey," the MICT said in a written reply to the Hürriyet Daily News, noting that it does not accept Turkey's argument of functional immunity for Akay. 

"We confirm that Turkey's Constitutional Court has been petitioned in relation to this matter," the MICT said, referring to Akay's individual application.

On Oct. 27, the MICT asked Turkey to release Akay and cease legal proceedings against him. He was arrested in September as part of an investigation into the July 15 failed military coup attempt.

In its reply to the U.N. Secretariat on Nov. 10, Turkey's Permanent Representative to U.N. claimed that Akay merely has "functional immunity" and therefore could only benefit from immunity for charges regarding his assignment. It argued that this impunity is invalid for charges committed in his national country. 

In response, the MICT dismissed Turkey's appeal. "With all due respect to the position taken by Turkey, that position is contrary to the plain wording of the Statute of the Mechanism adopted by the United Nations Security Council under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, which clearly provides for full diplomatic immunity for Judges of the Mechanism when engaged on the business of the Mechanism. In providing for full...