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Amnesty International reported Friday that an acquittal of 87 individuals, including protestors, journalists, and lawyers, reflects an endemic misuse of the criminal justice system by the Turkish government and authorities.
Those acquitted had originally been arrested and detained for eight months following the police response to largely peaceful protests held between 19 and 26 March. These protests occurred as a response to the political detention and the pre-trial detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. İmamoğlu was arrested on several charges of bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, extortion, and tender rigging. Nearly 2,000 people were arrested during the protests.
These arrests were made on the grounds of preventing the escalation of the protest into a riot between the police and protestors. Further, governorates such as Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, and Mansia issued pre-emptive bans on assemblies, with Istanbul also restricting entry to and exit from the province, as a result.
These blanket bans themselves were challenged in the initial investigation released by Amnesty International. According to local reports, several meetings, press statements, and protests still took place in Istanbul between the 19th and 23rd of March. This decision was supported in law by Article 11/C of the Law on Provincial Administration and Article 15/H of the Law on Police Duties and Powers. However, Amnesty International’s investigation found that 15/h does not actually exist.
The treatment and police force used on protestors was further emphasized as unjust and a breach of international human rights law in the report. Amnesty International, after speaking to detainees, found that unlawful force, such as beating and kicking of prisoners, as well as the use of tear gas, pepper spray, and kinetic impact projectiles, led to injuries.
Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) protects the right to peaceful assembly. The Human Rights Committee further differentiates peaceful protest from what the authorities described events in March as “rioting.” It states, “Isolated instances of such conduct will not suffice to taint an entire assembly as non-peaceful.” The ICCPR also protects the protestors’ rights to life and freedom from torture or ill-treatment.
Another trial held on the same day as the acquittals was that of 13 protesters charged with “insulting the president.” This trial was postponed until May 2026. A lawyer representing the president requested that the court find the defendants guilty of the charge because “his honor had been damaged by the actions of the defendants.”
Referring to the acquittal of 87 of the protestors detained, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director EU, Balkans and Turkey, Dinushka Disanayake, said: “Whilst the acquittal of these 87 peaceful protesters, eight journalists and four lawyers is welcome, it does beg the question as to why they were put through this eight-month ordeal in the first place.”
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Those acquitted had originally been arrested and detained for eight months following the police response to largely peaceful protests held between 19 and 26 March. These protests occurred as a response to the political detention and the pre-trial detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. İmamoğlu was arrested on several charges of bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, extortion, and tender rigging. Nearly 2,000 people were arrested during the protests.
These arrests were made on the grounds of preventing the escalation of the protest into a riot between the police and protestors. Further, governorates such as Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, and Mansia issued pre-emptive bans on assemblies, with Istanbul also restricting entry to and exit from the province, as a result.
These blanket bans themselves were challenged in the initial investigation released by Amnesty International. According to local reports, several meetings, press statements, and protests still took place in Istanbul between the 19th and 23rd of March. This decision was supported in law by Article 11/C of the Law on Provincial Administration and Article 15/H of the Law on Police Duties and Powers. However, Amnesty International’s investigation found that 15/h does not actually exist.
The treatment and police force used on protestors was further emphasized as unjust and a breach of international human rights law in the report. Amnesty International, after speaking to detainees, found that unlawful force, such as beating and kicking of prisoners, as well as the use of tear gas, pepper spray, and kinetic impact projectiles, led to injuries.
Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) protects the right to peaceful assembly. The Human Rights Committee further differentiates peaceful protest from what the authorities described events in March as “rioting.” It states, “Isolated instances of such conduct will not suffice to taint an entire assembly as non-peaceful.” The ICCPR also protects the protestors’ rights to life and freedom from torture or ill-treatment.
Another trial held on the same day as the acquittals was that of 13 protesters charged with “insulting the president.” This trial was postponed until May 2026. A lawyer representing the president requested that the court find the defendants guilty of the charge because “his honor had been damaged by the actions of the defendants.”
Referring to the acquittal of 87 of the protestors detained, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director EU, Balkans and Turkey, Dinushka Disanayake, said: “Whilst the acquittal of these 87 peaceful protesters, eight journalists and four lawyers is welcome, it does beg the question as to why they were put through this eight-month ordeal in the first place.”
The post Turkey abused justice system in arrest and acquittal of 87 protestors, rights group alleges appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.