Dec 16, 2020
In a report published today, the ICJ and the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) have documented a range of human rights violations in the “Gezi Park” trial, which took place in Istanbul before the 30th Assize Court from 24 June 2019 to 18 February 2020.
Further, the organizations call for the immediate release of Osman Kavala who was acquitted of all Gezi Park trial-related charges, but is in detention, and for all the remaining charges against all defendants to be dropped.
Following the joint trial observation, the ICJ and IBAHRI found that the trial of leading figures in the Gezi Park protests failed to comply with fair trial guarantees under Turkish and international law.
In the re, the organizations concluded that the trial did not meet the requirement of a fair trial under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Specifically, the proceeding failed to comply with the rights to be tried by an independent and impartial court, the presumption of innocence and to call and cross examine witnesses.
The ICJ and IBAHRI further affirmed that the trial was compromised due to the clear violation of the principle of legality in relation to the criminal law applied, as well as in respect of the grounds for detention, which failed to satisfy articles 9 and 15 of the ICCPR, and articles 5 and 7 of the ECHR.
The Gezi Park protests began in May 2013 as an effort by a group of environmentalists to save a park in central Istanbul from being rezoned, but soon grew into nationwide demonstrations. Police quelled the protests in Taksim Square with the use of tear gas and water cannons.
“While the acquittal of some is welcome, the charges against the defendants were patently baseless and unsubstantiated, and should not have been brought to begin with,” said Massimo Frigo, Senior Legal Adviser of the Europe and Central Asia Programme of the ICJ. “The renewed detention of Osman Kavala under fresh charges related to the same facts as those he is acquitted upon is a deplorable abuse of process and he should be released immediately.”
Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Director of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, commented: “Following our extensive trial observation, we are greatly disappointed to see that Osman Kavala will again face trial from 18 December 2020 on new and wholly unsubstantiated charges. Mr Kavala and the Gezi Park protestors should never have been charged, which only makes the failure to uphold fair trial guarantees more disconcerting. Such disregard for due process is sadly now commonplace in Turkey, and we hope this trial report alerts the international community to the true disintegration of the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law in the country.”
The criminal charges brought against the defendants related to offences that are overly broad and prone to unduly restrict the exercise of human rights, notably the freedoms of expression, association and assembly, political participation and privacy.
The defendants in the trial were Mehmet Osman Kavala, Gokçe Yilmaz, Ali Hakan Altinay, Hanzade Hikmet Germiyanoglu, Yigit Aksakoglu, Cigdem Mater Utku, Yigit Ali Ekmekci, Memet Ali Alabora, Handan Meltem Arikan, Can Dundar, Ayse Mucella, Serafettin Can Atalay, Tayfun Kahraman, Inanç Ekmekçi, Mine Ozerden and Ayse Pinar Alabora.
The defendants were charged under the following articles of the Turkish Criminal Code:
- Article 312: an attempt to overthrow the Turkish government or an attempt to prevent it from fulfilling its duties;
- Article 151: damage to property;
- Article 152: qualified damage to property;
- Article 174: possession or exchange of hazardous substances without permission;
- Article 153: damaging places of worship and cemeteries;
- Article 149: qualified robbery;
- Article 86: intentional injury;
- crimes under the Law on Firearms, Knives and Other Tools No 6136; and
- crimes under the Law on Protection of Cultural and Natural Assets No 2863.
The detention of Osman Kavala was declared unlawful under articles 5 and 18 of the ECHR by the European Court of Human Rights during the trial, and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has called three times for his immediate release despite newly raised charges of espionage.
Download the report:
In English: Turkey-GeziParkTrial-TrialObservation-Publications-Reports-2020-ENG
In Turkish: Turkey-GeziParkTrial-TrialObservation-Publications-reports-2020-TUR
Contact:
Massimo Frigo, Senior Legal Adviser, ICJ Europe and Central Asia Programme, t: +41 79 749 99 49, e: massimo.frigo(a)icj.org
Dec 15, 2020 | Agendas, Events
Join ICJ and IHOP in this online conference in which Turkish and international experts will discuss the current challenges in Turkey to promptly and fully implement the judgments of the Court and how to improve the execution of judgments in the Turkish national system.
Turkey is the Council of Europe member state with the third highest number of European Court of Human Rights judgments awaiting execution, after the Russian Federation and Ukraine. As a Party to the European Convention on Human Rights and founding member of the Council of Europe, Turkey has committed to implement all rulings of the Strasbourg Court, yet the results of this commitment are far from clear.
Implementation of the European Court judgments is a key indicator in Europe of a country’s commitment to human rights and the rule of law, and failure to implement judgments fundamentally undermines access to justice for victims of human rights violations by watering down the impact of their litigation before the Court.
Failure to implement judgments through general implementation measures reforming laws, policies and practices, also leads to persistent, repeated violations of the States’ obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. This problem has existed for many years in Turkey, leaving long-standing systemic human rights problems unsolved. Recently civil society has denounced the Turkish authorities’ attempts to circumvent the general application of certain new key rulings of the European Court.
In this conference, Turkish and international experts will discuss the current challenges in Turkey to promptly and fully implement the judgments of the Court and how to improve the execution of judgments in the Turkish national system:
– Justice Egbert Myjer, Former Judge at the European Court of Human Rights and Commissioner of the ICJ,
– Prof. Philip Leach, Professor of Human Rights Law at Middlesex University
– George Stafford, Director at European Implementation Network
– Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey Director, Human Rights Watch
– Kerem Altıparmak, ICJ Legal Consultant
– Ayşe Bingöl Demir, Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project Co-Director, Lawyer
– Prof. Başak Çalı, Professor of International Law, Co-Director of the Centre for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School
The event will be introduced and moderated by Feray Salman, General Coordinator of the Human Rights Joint Platform (IHOP), Roisin Pillay, Director of the ICJ Europe and Central Asia Programme, and Massimo Frigo, Senior Legal Adviser of the ICJ Europe and Central Asia Programme.<
TO REGISTER WRITE TO: ihop@ihop.org.tr
IHOPICJ-ZoomConference-ExecutionECtHRTurkey-Agenda-2020-ENG (download the agenda in English)
IHOPICJ-ZoomConference-ExecutionECtHRTurkey-Agenda-2020-TUR (download the agenda in Turkish)
The event is part of the REACT project: implemented jointly by ICJ and IHOP, this project seeks to support the role of civil society actors in turkey in ensuring effective access to justice for the protection of human rights. This project is funded by the European Union. The views expressed in the event do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the EU.
Dec 11, 2020 | Доклад миссии установления фактов, Доклады, Новости, Публикации
Сегодня, опубликовав отчет о миссии, касающейся судебной системе Таджикистана, Международная комиссия юристов (МКЮ) призвала госорганы Таджикистана принять комплексные меры по реформированию судебной системы с тем, чтобы обеспечить ее независимость и уполномочить эффективно защищать права человека.
В отчете МКЮ Без сдержек и противовесов: судебная система Таджикистана дается подробный обзор организации и функционирования судебной системы при отправлении правосудия в Таджикистане. На основе анализа законов и информации, полученной во время миссии в страну МКЮ обнаружила некоторые слабости судебной системы и предложила рекомендации относительно институтов и процедур судебного управления.
«В Таджикистане имели место неоднократные попытки реформировать систему правосудия, как мы это смогли продемонстрировать в докладе, но к настоящему моменту они не привели к созданию судебной системы с сильными институтами самоуправления, которые были бы способны защищать и поддерживать судей в независимом применении права», – сказал Тимур Шакиров, старший правовой советник Программы МКЮ по Европе и Центральной Азии. «Среди многих иных вопросов, доклад указывает на проблему практически полного отсутствия оправдательных приговоров в Таджикистане, феномен, который можно рассматривать как лакмусовую бумажку судебной власти в ее способности выполнять свою роль самостоятельно», – подчеркнул он.
В докладе содержится ряд рекомендаций, в частности, в отношении руководящих органов судебной власти, системы назначения судей, судебной гарантии пребывания в должности и дисциплинарной системы для судей, с целью повышения независимости и эффективности судебных органов.
«Существует очевидная необходимость в осуществлении серьезной институциональной реформы для изменения системы саморегулирования, которая позволила бы осуществлять независимое отправление правосудия без формальной или неформальной проверки или одобрения со стороны руководства», – добавил Шакиров.
Отчет доступен на русском и английском языках.
Дополнительная информация:
В апреле и мае 2019 года МКЮ провела исследовательскую миссию по вопросам независимости судебной власти в Таджикистане. По завершении миссии МКЮ выразила озабоченность относительно независимости судей, а также функционирования судебных институтов и процедур в законодательстве и на практике.
Tajikistan-Judiciary-Publications-Reports-Mission report-2020-RUS
Dec 11, 2020
Today, as it publishes its mission report on the country’s judiciary, the ICJ calls on the Government of Tajikistan to adopt comprehensive measures to reform the judiciary, in order to ensure its independence and enable it to effectively protect human rights.
The ICJ report Neither Check nor Balance: the Judiciary in Tajikistan provides a detailed overview of the organization and functioning of the judiciary in administering justice in Tajikistan. Through an analysis of laws and information obtained during a mission to the country the ICJ has identified the weaknesses in the judiciary and made recommendations concerning the institutions and procedures of judicial governance.
“There have been many attempts to reform the justice system in Tajikistan, as we demonstrate in the report, but they have so far failed to result in a judiciary with strong self-governance institutions which are capable of protecting and supporting judges in independently applying the law,” said Temur Shakirov, Senior Legal Adviser of the ICJ Europe and Central Asia Programme.
“Among many other issues, the report points to the problem of an almost complete absence of acquittals in Tajikistan, which can be seen as a litmus paper of the judiciary’s ability to fulfil their role independently.”
The report provides a set of recommendations, in particular, in regard to the governing bodies of the judiciary, the system of appointment of judge, judicial security of tenure, and the disciplinary system for judges, with a view to strengthening the independence and effectiveness of the judiciary.
“There is a conspicuous need for a significant institutional reform to re-design a system of self-regulation that would allow for the independent administration of justice, without a formal or informal check or approval from superiors,” Shakirov added.
Background:
In April and May 2019, ICJ conducted a research mission on the independence of the judiciary in Tajikistan. Following the mission, the ICJ expressed concerns about the independence of individual judges as well as the functioning of judicial institutions and procedures in law and in practice.
Download
Tajikistan-Judiciary-Publications-Reports-Mission report-2020-ENG (full report in English, PDF)
Dec 8, 2020 | News
The ICJ with partners has intervened in European Court for Human Rights case concerning collective expulsions, including of children from Croatia.
The ICJ and partners (European Council for Refugees and Exiles, Dutch Council for Refugees, AIRE Center and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee) intervened today in the case S.B. v Croatia (Application No. 18810/19) at the European Court for Human rights.
The case concerns collective expulsion of migrants, including children, from Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and excessive use of force.
In the intervention, the organisations have highlighted international legal standards regarding the principle of non-refoulement and prohibition of collective expulsions. They also point to the need to take into account specific vulnerabilities of asylum seekers and children in order to guarantee enhanced safeguards afforded to them under international and EU law.
The organisations also note that in operations aimed at imposing restrictions on freedom of movement or deprivation of liberty to carry out an expulsion, the use of force should only be employed exceptionally and subject to strict necessity and proportionality requirements. The lack of resistance to law enforcement officials, per se renders force unlawful.
Please find the third party intervention here.
