12 April 2022
Ankara
The Human Rights Association (İnsan Hakları Derneği -İHD) has been working to promote human rights since 1986 as the largest and oldest human rights organization in Turkey. The political power has always resorted to repressive policies against İHD but the association is now facing such grave judicial harassment for the first time since the 1990s in the person of its chairperson.
Three successive criminal proceedings initiated into İHD’s chair Öztürk Türkdoğan in his capacity as chair signify that the authorities attempt to clamp down on İHD, the largest and oldest human rights organization in Turkey, and the struggle for human rights through the judiciary. The political power and public prosecutors’ offices have shown that they were blind to the case laws of both the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) with these lawsuits brought against Mr. Türkdoğan, while judicial reform and human rights action plans could not go beyond paying lip service.
One of these cases was brought under Article 314/2 of the Turkish Penal Code with trumped-up charges of “membership in an armed organization” solely based on Mr. Türkdoğan’s public statements in an effort to protect fundamental rights and freedoms and to make violations visible in his capacity as the co-chairperson of İHD. The first hearing of the case, which we regard to be the gravest, was held on 22 February 2022.
The second hearing will be held on 19 April 2022 at 14:00 before the Ankara 19th Heavy Penal Court, during which the prosecution is expected to present its opinion, while the court may deliver its judgment in this significant case.
We invite you to be present at this hearing to stand in solidarity with the Human Rights Association.
Human Rights Association