A/HRC/36/31 and fined for not obeying the police. The Special Rapporteur found the situation to be totally unacceptable, and that it furthered the climate of fear in the country.”h 24. Thailand 80. In June 2016, grant recipients of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, human rights defenders Porpen Khongkachonkiet and Somchai Homla-or of CrossCultural Foundation and Anchana Heemmina of Duay Jai Group, were the object of a legal complaint filed by the Royal Thai Army operating in the Southern Border Provinces. The above-mentioned persons had published a report in February 2016 entitled “Fifty-four cases of torture and ill-treatment in the Deep South documented in 2014-2015” funded in part by the United Nations Voluntary Fund. They were consequently accused of publishing false information on torture and ill-treatment committed by military officials. The spokesperson of the Royal Thai Army in the region issued a public statement on 11 February 2016 accusing the organization of bias and of using outdated information to seek funding. 81. On 4 August 2016, some mandate holders expressed concern over criminal defamation charges filed against these human rights defenders in relation to their human rights work on documenting cases of torture and ill-treatment in Thailand (see A/HRC/34/75, para. 11, THA 6/2016). On 5 August 2016, the Government replied that the allegations of torture documented in the report were unfounded. It further stated that the complaint against the three human rights defenders is still under investigation by the police, before it is sent to the prosecutor’s office to decide whether to file the case for further court proceedings. 25. Turkey 82. On 23 January 2017, special procedure mandate holders raised concerns with the Government at allegations of reprisals against Osman Isci, an academic researcher and human rights defender, who was suspended from his research position at Agri Ibrahim Cecen University by emergency decree, for his cooperation with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression during his official visit to Turkey in November 2016 (see A/HRC/35/44, para. 12, TUR 1/2017). In January 2016, Osman Isci, together with more than 180 other academic and university researchers signed the “Peace Petition”, which was published by Academics for Peace. Many of these academics have since been dismissed, suspended or forced to resign, and all of them continue to be subjected to administrative and judicial investigations (see A/HRC/33/32, para. 10, TUR 3/2016). 83. On 15 December 2016, approximately one month after he participated in a meeting with the Special Rapporteur, Mr. Isci received a document notifying him that, according to Emergency Decree nos. 667, 668 and 675, and Articles 137 and 138 of the Law on Public Officers, he had been placed under administrative investigation and suspended until its completion. In its reply of 11 April 2017, the Government responded that a disciplinary investigation was initiated against Mr. Isci on suspicion that he might be linked to the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), a suspected terrorist organization. The Government further submitted that under Decree Law 667, public officials who are deemed to be members or have links to terrorist organizations be dismissed from public service. The Government stated that the investigation against Mr. Isci is ongoing, and it has no relevance to his meeting with the Special Rapporteur, nor to his assumed work as a human rights defender. 26. Turkmenistan 84. In its views adopted on 15 July 2016, the Human Rights Committee raised allegations of intimidation and reprisals concerning Navruz Tahirovich Nasyrlayev who claimed in a submission of 3 September 2012 that the State party had violated his rights under articles 7, h 30 OHCHR, “UN expert deplores harsh sentencing of Tajikistan opposition leaders and warns of radicalization,” 7 June 2016.