AS/Jur (2023) 17 response was described as “swift and pointed”, Türkiye ultimately agreed to a request from Saudi authorities to transfer the trial in absentia being held in connection with the murder to Saudi Arabia. 61 43. Following the Russian large-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022, Türkiye refused to support Sweden and Finland’s applications to join NATO, unless Sweden handed over a set of wanted individuals. On 21 December 2022 Reuters reported that Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s Foreign Minister and a former President of this Assembly, described at a news conference in Ankara the decision of Sweden’s Supreme Court to block the extradition of Turkish journalist Dr Bülent Kenes as a ‘very negative’ development. President Erdogan had earlier singled out Dr Kenes’ extradition as a condition for Turkey to approve Sweden joining NATO. This behaviour is unacceptable to all those who support the rule of law and serves as an example of the type of pressure which some countries seek to exercise over others to pursue what is essentially another aspect of transnational repression. Even prior to the Turkish Government’s statement a pro-Turkish Government newspaper had revealed Dr Kenes’ home address and published secretly taken photos in November 2022. Dr Bulent Kenes is one of the founders of the Stockholm Centre for Freedom. 44. In 2023, a law firm, an NGO and the European judges association Magistrats europeéens pour la démocratie et les libertés (MEDEL) announced that they had sent a communication to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), claiming that crimes against humanity had been or were being committed in Türkiye. The communication enumerates the abduction of victims from different countries who were brought to Türkiye in 17 cases of enforced disappearance; the closure of 72 schools linked to the Gülen movement in 13 States party to the ICC Statute; the discriminatory withdrawal of passports and the discriminatory non-issuance of ID cards in 29 States, as crimes that can be prosecuted by the ICC. 62 In 2020, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had concluded that the arrest, detention and forced transfer to Türkiye of Turkish nationals were arbitrary and in violation of international human rights norms. It noted a pattern of targeting those with alleged links to the Gülen movement on the discriminatory basis of their political or other opinion and recalled that the widespread or systematic imprisonment in violation of international law might constitute crimes against humanity. 63 45. In a letter addressed to me as rapporteur on 6 January 2023, two members of the Turkish delegation to PACE and members of our committee commented on the allegations of misuse of Red Notices by Türkiye and other issues mentioned in my introductory memorandum. They said that Türkiye issued Red Notices requests in accordance with its international obligations stemming from international law and its domestic legislation, and that it was unfair to blame member States for allegedly misusing them. They suggested that my report should rather focus on Interpol’s internal monitoring system that does not work properly and transparently. 3.3. Azerbaijan 46. According to Freedom House, since 2014 Azerbaijan has conducted five renditions, from Ukraine, Georgia, and Türkiye. In four of the cases, the victim was a journalist or a journalist’s spouse.64 Afgan Mukhtarli, an Azerbaijani investigative journalist, vanished in May 2017 from Tbilisi and resurfaced in custody in Baku, after what appeared to be a harrowing cross-border abduction.65 Fikret Huseynli, another Azerbaijani journalist, claimed that Ukrainian authorities failed to protect him from the attack and attempted abduction by undercover Azerbaijani state agents tracking him down in Kyiv in March 2018. He had previously been detained in Ukraine on the basis of a Red Notice request by Baku.66 47. Well-known blogger and social-media opposition activist, Mahammad Mirzali, has been repeatedly attacked including being shot, stabbed and severely beaten. In 2016 he left Azerbaijan and now lives in France as a refugee. The Azerbaijani authorities have denied any involvement in these attacks. Reporters Without 61 https://freedomhouse.org/report/transnational-repression/turkey-host. 62https://stockholmcf.org/european-judges-association-belgian-law-firm-ngo-take-turkeys-alleged-crimes-against- humanity-to-icc/ 63https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Detention/Opinions/Session88/A_HRC_WGAD_2020_51_A dvance_Edited_Version.pdf. See also : https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Detention/Opinions/Session88/A_HRC_WGAD_2020_47_Ad vance_Edited_Version.pdf; 64 Freedom House, Linzer and Schenkkan, 2021, op.cit, p. 49. 65 Georgia/Azerbaijan: Exiled Azerbaijani journalist at risk of torture after cross-border ‘abduction’ (amnesty.org), 30 May 2017. 66 'Trust No One': Exiled Azerbaijani Reporter Says He's Being Hunted In Kyiv (rferl.org), 19 March 2018. 15