No Protection for Sexual Assault Victim LGBTI Activist

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The request of LGBTI Activist Kemal Ördek, sexually assaulted at his house to extend the protection order has been declined.

The three suspects who had assaulted Ördek on July 5 at his house in Ankara have been put on trial without arrest before 1st High Criminal Court with charges of “major sexual assault”, “willful injury”, “robbery”, “defamation”, “threatening” and “deprivation of liberty by force”.

Ördek had let issue a protection measure order as the assaulters had not been arrested. The protection order primarily valid for one month had later been extended for four months. Following its expiration on December 6, Ördek’s attorneys had appealed to the court to extent the decision.  

Ankara 8th Family Court had declined the appeal to extent the order on procedural grounds.

Evaluating the decision for bianet, Ördek’s attorney Nihan Erdoğan has noted “I could not find any correspondence for this in the law. We have made our objection also on these grounds” and stated that the police stating executing the protection order is the very same station where Ördek had been exposed to the maltreatment on the night of the incident.

“Assaulters not arrested, I am not protected”

Ördek has added:

“Also during the period of protection, I have experienced difficulties. Normally the police is supposed to check if the person subjected to the protection order is safe or not, but they didn’t. The court has issued the protection order yet they are unaware that we had previously filed a criminal complaint regarding maltreatment by the police station, which is supposed to execute the protection order.

“It has been six months since we have filed the criminal complaint for the police but only last week they have taken my testimony. This indicates where we stand regarding impunity.

“Neither the progress in the criminal complaint against the police seems good, nor the assaulters have been arrested and I still have no protection order”

The next hearing of the trial on the assault of Kemal Ördek will be held on January 26, 2016 at 10.50 a.m. in Ankara before Ankara 1st High Criminal Court.

What had happened?

LGBTI activist Kemal Ördek had been sexually assaulted at his house in Ankara on July 5, Sunday and suspects claimed to have responded the police as “We are real man officer, you would have a feeling for us” following the police having expressed “[The immorality of] This Lut people has not somehow still not come to an end” have been let go.

Following the assault, Nils Muiznieks; European Council Human Rights Commissioner had made a written statement regarding the incident and called on the authorities to announce explicitly that they would not tolerate hate speech and crimes against LGBTI persons.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Mahmut Tanal, CHP Malatya MP Veli Ağbaba and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Istanbul MP Garo Paylan had brought the issue to the Parliament and asked the Minister for Interior Affairs Sebahattin Öztürk about the assault of Ördek and what had happened afterwards.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Rupert Colville had made a statement regarding the assault of Ördek, reminded of the commitment Turkey has made for LGBTI persons during the Universal Periodic Evaluation and called on the authorities to take measures for the fight against homophobic, transphobic violence and discrimination. (ÇT/DG)