A United Nations legal panel has ordered Turkey to release a judge who is among thousands of people detained in the aftermath of last year's failed coup. <br/><br/>The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) today ordered Ankara to free Judge Aydin Sefa Akay, who also serves as a UN jurist, by Feb. 14 and halt legal proceedings against him. <br/><br/>Akay is a member of a panel of judges that is reviewing the case of a former Rwandan government minister who was convicted of involvement in his country's 1994 genocide.<br/><br/>In a statement, the MICT says that the order to release Akay is legally binding under a U.N. Security Council resolution requiring states to comply with the mechanism's orders.