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World Organization Against TortureGlobal network fighting against torture and other humans rights violations |
Print version. Published on 202.ip-51-77-231.eu Original: /statements/turkey/2020/12/d26230/ |
We, the
undersigned human rights organisations, believe that the only just outcome in
the unfair prosecution of 19 human rights defenders for their participation in
a peaceful Pride march on the campus of Ankara’s Middle East Technical
University (METU) on 10 May 2019 is their wholesale acquittal at their next
hearing on 10 December at 09:00 UTC+3.
The human rights
defenders face charges of “participating in an unlawful assembly” and “failing
to disperse despite being warned,” despite the fact that, three weeks earlier
on 19 April 2019, the Ankara Administrative Appeals Court had lifted the
blanket ban prohibiting all LGBTI+ activities in Ankara introduced under the
state of emergency, which was used as the legal basis to ban the march. The regional court lifted the ban on the
grounds that it was unlawful and restricted rights and freedoms in
unconditional, vague, and disproportionate ways.
METU Pride had
been organised peacefully every year since 2011. However, on 6 May 2019, the
administration of METU unlawfully banned the METU Pride march. Since the
administration’s decision contravened the Ankara court’s ruling, activists and
students exercised their legal right to freedom of assembly and gathered to
proceed with their annual march. The university administration then contacted
the Ankara Security Directorate asking them to intervene to prevent the march
from taking place.
The police used
excessive force on peaceful protestors on the day: tear gas and plastic bullets
were fired at the crowd, students were dragged across the ground, pushed up
against trees and sustained head injuries. The excessive force used during the
police intervention is a clear violation of the right to peaceful assembly,
which is protected under domestic law and international laws, including the
European Convention of Human Rights, to which Turkey is a party.
Despite there
being ample video footage of the police violence, to-date, none of the police
officers seen using excessive force have been charged. On the contrary, 18 students and an academic
who were exercising their right to freedom of assembly were detained, charged
and prosecuted, facing a possible prison sentence of up to three years.
In June 2020, the
Ankara Administrative Court No. 7 made reference to the 2019 ruling by the
Ankara District Administrative Court No. 12 which quashed the blanket ban on
all LGBTI+ events in the capital in place since 2017, stating that “although
specific assemblies and demonstrations may be banned, the right to peaceful
assembly and demonstration should be protected as an inalienable right in a
democratic society” and that “the State has an obligation to take necessary
measures to ensure this right can be
exercised securely”. This ruling confirms that the METU administration’s
ban on the May 2019 Pride March on campus had no legal basis.
We therefore call
on the trial prosecutor to recommend the acquittal of all the human rights
defenders at the hearing on 10 December, and for all the relevant authorities
in Turkey to ensure that the security forces and METU administration uphold the
right to freedom of peaceful assembly as enshrined in domestic law and
international human rights law, by ensuring that future Pride marches at METU
campus and in Ankara take place without obstruction. We also call on the
Turkish authorities to conduct a prompt, independent and impartial
investigation into the excessive use of force by the police on the campus, and
for police officers responsible for arbitrary or abusive force to be brought to
justice.
Agir ensemble pour les droits humains
Amnesty International
Civil Rights Defenders
Front Line Defenders
Human Rights Without Frontiers
ILGA-Europe – the European Region of the International
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association
International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for
the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Netherlands Helsinki
Committee
World Organisation Against
Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of
Human Rights Defenders