Bülent Şık is a human rights defender working on public health, food safety and the right to a healthy environment. He is a former academic, known for his work on food safety. He was summoned to appear before an Istanbul court on 7 February 2019 on the charges of “disclosing restricted information,” “procuring restricted information” and “disclosing confidential information obtained by virtue of duty.” Şık, who was dismissed from Akdeniz University’s Food Safety and Agricultural Research Center through an emergency decree (KHK) for signing 2016’s petition by the Academics for Peace initiative, is also a regular contributor to several newspapers and news websites. The accusations in the case stem from an article series Şık wrote in April 2018 for the Cumhuriyet daily newspaper, in which he wrote about carcinogenic pesticides and other toxins found in agricultural products in Turkey.