Conviction and sentencing of Ms. Sebnem Korur Fincanci, President of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT)

Sentencing /
Judicial harassment

Turkey

January 4, 2019

The Observatory for the Protection of Human RightsDefenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture(OMCT), requests your intervention in the following situation in Turkey.

Descriptionof the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by reliablesources about the conviction and sentencing of Ms. Şebnem Korur Fincancı,an academic and President of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT).Since 1990, she has contributed to the access of more than 17,000 torturesurvivors and their relatives to treatment and rehabilitation services inTurkey and also in the most challenging contexts around the world.

According to the information received, onDecember 19, 2018, the İstanbul 37th Heavy Penal Court, during its fifthhearing, convicted and sentenced in first instance Ms. Şebnem Korur Fincancı totwo years and six months in prison for having signed a declaration entitled “We will not be a party to this crime” prepared by Academics for Peace. Otherinformation related to her human rights work, including interviews and a reporton human rights violations in Cizre[1](in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey), were also added as criminal evidenceagainst her in the case. This is one of the harshest sentences pronouncedagainst signatories of the declaration.

Ms. Şebnem Korur Fincancı intends to appealthis decision as soon as the full ruling will be made public. Meanwhile thesentence will not be enforced.

On January 10, 2016, 1,128 academicspublished a declaration entitled "We will not be party to this crime",calling for peace and denouncing human rights violations in the country, onbehalf of the Academics for Peace initiative. The number of signatories laterreached the total of 2,212.

The declaration was followed by publiccomments from the authorities calling for the criminalisation of signatoriesand lawsuits were then filed against some of the academics on charge of"propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per Article No. 7/2of the Anti-Terror Law No. 3713.

As of December 27, 2018, 444 academics hadstood trial. 69 of these academics were given sentences ranging between oneyear and three months to two years and six months in prison. All but eightsentences are suspended.

The Observatory recalls that Ms. Fincancı, togetherwith others, is also being tried in another criminal case for taking part in asolidarity campaign in support of the right to freedom of the press, and moreparticularly for acting as symbolic co-editors of the daily Kurdishnewspaper Özgür Gündem.

The Observatory condemns in the strongest terms thesentencing of Ms. Şebnem Korur Fincancı which seems to be only aimed atpunishing her for her legitimate human rights activities, and calls on theTurkish authorities to end any act of harassment, including at the judicial levelagainst all the human rights defenders in Turkey.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of Turkeyasking them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances thephysical and psychological integrity of Ms. Şebnem Korur Fincancı ;

ii. Put an end to all forms of harassment, including at thejudicial level, against Ms. Şebnem Korur Fincancı and against all human rights defenders in Turkey;

iii. Until all charges are dropped, ensure that allproceedings against Ms. Şebnem Korur Fincancı are carried out in compliance with her right to a fair trial, asprotected under international law;

iv. Comply with all the provisions of the United NationsDeclaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly onDecember 9, 1998, in particular its Articles 1, 6(a), 9, 11 and 12.2;

vi. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights andfundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standardsand international instruments ratified by Turkey.

Addresses:

· President of Turkey, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,Fax: (+90 312) 525 58 31, Email: contact@tccb.gov.tr

· Prime Minister of Turkey, Mr. Ahmet Davutoglu,Fax: +90 312 420 51 65

· Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdülhamit Gül, Fax:+90 (0312) 419 33 70; Email: info@adalet.gov.tr

· Minister of Interior, Mr. Süleyman Soylu,Fax: +90 (312) 425 61 30

· Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Dr. Sadık Ahmet Cad, No: 8 Balgat, Ankara, Turkey 06100.

· Minister of Health, Mr. Fahrettin Koca, Email: eposta@saglik.gov.tr

· President of Grand National Assembly of Turkey,Mr. Binali Yıldırım, Email:binali.yildirim@tbmm.gov.tr

· Ambassador Izzet Selim Yenel, DiplomaticMission of Turkey to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium; Fax: + 32 2 51104 50

· Ambassador Mr. Ali Naci Koru, PermanentMission of Turkey to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland; Email: mission.turkey@ties.itu.int

Please also write to the diplomatic missions orembassies of Turkey in your respective country.

***

Paris-Geneva, January 4, 2019

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting thecode of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human RightsDefenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is tointervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rightsdefenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanismimplemented by international civil society.

[1] Civil society organization and international institutionssuch as the UN Human Rights Office have reported allegations of massivedestruction, killings and numerous other serious human rights violationscommitted between July 2015 and December 2016 in southeast Turkey, duringGovernment security operations that affected more than 30 towns andneighbourhoods and displaced between 355,000 and half a million people, mostlyof Kurdish origin. See for instance: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21342 @font-face { font-family: Arial;}@font-face { font-family: "Cambria Math";}@font-face { font-family: "MS Mincho";}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }h1 { margin: 24pt 0cm 0.0001pt 21.6pt; text-indent: -21.6pt; page-break-after: avoid; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-weight: normal; }p.MsoFootnoteText, li.MsoFootnoteText, div.MsoFootnoteText { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoHeader, li.MsoHeader, div.MsoHeader { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoFooter, li.MsoFooter, div.MsoFooter { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoBodyText, li.MsoBodyText, div.MsoBodyText { margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }span.Titre1Car { }span.apple-converted-space { }span.ww-lieninternet { }span.FootnoteCharacters { vertical-align: super; }span.Marquenotebasdepage1 { vertical-align: super; }span.CorpsdetexteCar { }span.PieddepageCar { }span.En-tteCar { }span.NotedebasdepageCar { }.MsoChpDefault { font-size: 10pt; }div.WordSection1 { }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; }