Life sentence for Gezi protests, a new hope for İstanbul Convention

People protesting the Gezi verdict in Beyoğlu on April 26. (Photo: DİSK Basın-İş)

Just over two years after their acquittal of "attempted overthrow of the government" for their involvement in the 2013 Gezi Park protests, eight people were found guilty of this crime on Monday in the retrial with the same indictment and the same evidence.

The ruling was a blunt violation of the fundamental legal principle of non bis in idem, or nobody should be judged for the same offense, said a defense attorney.

Osman Kavala, a businessperson and a rights defender who has been kept in prison over for four years despite an ECtHR decision, was given an aggravated life sentence for "organizing and financing" the countrywide protests against then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government.

Osman Kavala attended the hearing via videoconference.

The other seven defendants — Mücella Yapıcı, Çiğdem Mater, Hakan Altınay, Mine Özerden, Can Atalay, Tayfun Kahraman and Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi — were sentenced to 18 years in prison for "aiding" Kavala in this crime.

Six of the defendants were immediately remanded in custody, and an arrest warrant was issued for Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi, although the court verdict is open to appeal.

Çiğdem Mater, a journalist and a film producer who was living in Germany, returned to Turkey in February to attend the hearings. Yet she was put in prison on the suspicion that "she could flee."

Mücella Yapıcı, an architect and a prominent rights defender, said, "I am honored with my life. I hope you have the same honor when you reach my age," before the court pronounced its judgment. Her daughter, Cansu Yapıcı, talked to bianet about the day of the final hearing and after. "My mother is annoyed when somebody asks why a 72-year-old is in prison," she said.

Cansu Yapıcı shared this drawing depicting Mücella Yapıcı and Çiğdem Mater on her Twitter account after visiting them in Silivri Prison on Thursday. Her mother "made a hair curler out of a face mask," reads a note on the paper.

The next day, police detained dozens of people in Beyoğlu, where the Taksim Solidarity held a demonstration to protest the ruling. "We will continue to be stubborn, naughty kids of Gezi," the group said in a statement.

The judgment drew international condemnation, including from the European Union, the Council of Europe, the International Bar Association, Amnesty International, Germany and the US.

Yet President Erdoğan was confident that "it is none of the ECtHR's business now" and everyone had to accept the court verdict. He also repeated the false claims from years ago that the Gezi protesters "drank beer in a mosque."

Read more:

Who are the eight convicts of the Gezi case?

Kavala: If they had had a rope in their hands, they would have hanged me

Governor of Uşak dismissed after her spouse criticized Gezi verdict

Akşener: Erdoğan has always feared the word 'Gezi'

The İstanbul Convention

Three days after the Gezi verdict, the Council of State, the country's top administrative court, heard 10 of the hundreds of cases filed against Turkey's withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention, a Council of Europe treaty on combating violence against women.

A 550-person conference hall in the Council of State building was full of women's rights defenders and lawyers. Even those who were left outside and battered by the police when they tried to get in were eventually allowed in the hall.

"I am a long-time lawyer, but no hearing was like this," said Şenal Sarıhan, a lawyer with the October 29 Women's Association.

Hearing at the conference hall. (Photo: Women's Platform for Equality/Twitter)

After several lawyers explained why President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's decree pulling Turkey out of the convention was unconstitutional, the prosecutor of the Council of State announced their opinion, stating that the decree should be annulled.

"If the decision to withdraw from the İstanbul Convention is accepted, it means we can withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights by an overnight decision by the president," a lawyer said.

The prosecutor also noted that the convention had been ratified by the parliament, the law directly referring to the convention is still in effect, and no laws about Turkey's exit from the convention had been passed by the parliament; thus, the president's decree was unlawful.

President Erdoğan issued the decree in question on March 20, 2021, and Turkey officially left the convention on July 1, 2021. Women's groups have been fighting to bring it back since then.

Read more:

Women in Turkey say their most important problem is 'violence'

bianet Male Violence Monitoring Report: Men killed at least 339 women in 2021

Women to Erdoğan: We don't give up on the İstanbul Convention

Toll of 'İstanbul Convention' protests: 178 people detained, 23 prosecuted

Shortly after 'selling out' Khashoggi, Erdoğan has a warm visit with Saudi king and crown prince His visit will mark "a new era" in the relations between Ankara and Riyadh, the president said after the visit, which came three weeks after Turkey handed over the case concerning the killing of Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia. The main opposition CHP's leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, slammed Erdoğan over the visit, saying, "He makes innocent people receive life sentences and ... bows before those who dismembered a person in our country."

Politics

MPs face threats, legal action after statements on Armenian Genocide HDP's Garo Paylan, an ethnic Armenian, was threatened by senior government officials, including the president, over a bill for the recognition of the genocide. He had been submitting the same bill on April 24 Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day for the past seven years. An investigation has been opened against CHP deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu for "insulting the Turkish nation" because of a tweet about the genocide. 

Opinion | Erdoğan is 'flexing muscles' Despite seemingly unrelated to each other, the cross-border operation into the Iraq's Kurdistan Region, the threats against MP Garo Paylan and the Gezi verdict are part of Erdoğan's strategy of "flexing muscles," argues Ertuğrul Kürkçü.

Appeals court overturns Selahattin Demirtaş's sentence for "marking a counterterrorism official as a target" The imprisoned Kurdish politician was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison because his remarks criticizing Ankara's chief public prosecutor 

Sea snot is back Last year, Turkey's inland Sea of Marmara remained covered with a thick layer of marine mucilage, or "sea snot," for months. With the temperatures rising, the mucilage has reemerged. (Photo: AA)

Human rights and freedom of expression

Constitutional Court finds no violation in not allowing Kurdish child given name containing 'w' A Kurdish family could not register their son's name as "Ciwan" 

There are 1,517 ill prisoners behind bars in Turkey The Human Rights Association has updated its list of ill prisoners. 

Thirty-eight people acquitted after four years of trial for commenting on economic crisis The defendants of the case included two Bloomberg journalists who reported on the 2018 currency crisis and journalists, economists and others who commented on the report on social media. 

'Not the fear, but shared values mostly pointed out now' Anna, a university student in Germany, is one of dozens of volunteers helping the people displaced from Ukraine. In an interview with bianet, she talked about her experience as a volunteer, the situation in Berlin and the "double standard" criticism faced by Europe.

'Temporary' solution to medicine shortage in Turkey: Prices of 508 drugs increased Pharmaceutical companies may now cut supplies to the market whenever they want price hikes, pharmacists warn 

Environment

A huge waste pond near Euphrates river raises concerns The waste pond of a gold mine in Erzincan is disrupting agricultural and livestock activities in the region, locals say. "When people affected by cyanide die, no one can even touch them. Lime is poured on their graves. Now we see an open cyanide pool in the middle of İliç. Birds die when flying over the pool and fall into it." 

Labor

Three workers were killed and nine others were wounded in an explosion in a paint factory in Tuzla, İstanbul The explosion was huge and caused damage in nearby factories and vehicles, according to a statement by the Governor's Office. 

Coronavirus

The government has lifted the indoor mask mandate, except for public transport and health institutions. On Friday, the number of daily cases dropped below 2,000 for the first time since the early days of the pandemic in 2020.

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