Leading European LGBTI rights organisation, ILGA-Europe welcomes the decision of a Turkish court to acquit 19 activists, who were charged with “unlawful assembly” for their participation in a peaceful LGBTI+ Pride march in 2019.
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ILGA-Europe alongside ERA, have published their documentation of developments in each EU accession country during 2020.
ILGA-Europe are alarmed to observe that in the past week the Turkish government has stepped up its systematic attacks on and defamation of LGBTI+ people.
Today in Turkey, at a hearing against 19 human rights defenders facing charges for “participating in an unlawful assembly” and “failing to disperse despite being warned”, the courts have decided to postpone the trial until 30 April 2021. The accused, 18 students and one academic, were arrested at a peaceful LGBTI Pride march at Turkey’s Middle East Technical University (METU) on 10 May 2019. If found guilty, they could face up to three years in prison.
Turkey must uphold its domestic and international commitments, and dismiss all charges against 19 human rights defenders, prosecuted for their participation in a peaceful Pride march at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara in May 2019, says Europe’s largest LGBTI rights umbrella organisation, ILGA-Europe.
The only just outcome is their wholesale acquittal at their next hearing on 10 December.
18 students and one academic face up to three years imprisonment in Turkey, should a judgement be made against them on December 10. The charges? Participating in a Pride march. Here’s the story so far, and how you can stand up for the METU 19.
We call on Turkey to respect, guarantee, protect and fulfil the fundamental rights of the LGBTI community without discrimination as enshrined by its Constitution and equality article therein (article 10), and ratified by human rights treaty bodies.
Civil Rights Defenders, International Federation for Human Rights, Front Line Defenders, and ILGA-Europe call upon Turkish authorities to drop all charges against 19 LGBTI+ rights defenders.
