Constitutional Court Ruling on ‘Banner Case’: Opinions Can Disturb Society

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The Constitutional Court has announced its ruling on Burcu Bardakçı and Erdem Yinanç, who were sentenced to pay a fine on the ground that they hung a banner at their university campus.

Considering the "deterrence" of the fine, the Constitutional Court has concluded that the right to assembly and demonstration guaranteed by the Article 34 of the Constitution was violated.

The Court has ruled that the file of the case shall be returned to the Ankara 5th Penal Court of Peace so that the case can be heard again.

The Constitutional Court has underlined in its ruling that that the right to assembly and demonstration aims to protect the opportunity of individuals to come together with the aim of defending and declaring their common opinions. "This right is a special form of freedom of expression", the Court has indicated and emphasized the following aspects:

"As in the case of freedom of expression, the right to assembly and demonstration does not only protect the views and opinions defended and accepted by the wider society. Besides, meetings and demonstrations can as well be organized with the aim of defending opinions that could disturb, worry and even shock the wider society or draw its reaction to a certain extent."

Accordingly, the Court has concluded that "hanging a banner that raised concerns over terrorist attacks and made a call to remember the ones who lost their lives in the attacks was intended as expression of an opinion."

The Court has also underlined that "imposing the least severe penalty to people who were not involved in a reprehensible incident during a peaceful meeting and demonstration march can have a deterrent effect."

The judgements of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) referring to fines as deterrent factors for the right to peaceful assembly have also been cited by the Constitutional Court.

What happened?

A group of students including Burcu Bardakçı and Erdem Yinanç, who were studying at the Faculty of Law at Ankara University, gathered at Cebeci Campus of the university on March 22, 2016 in protest against the bomb attacks launched in Turkey in 2016.

Students first opened three banners, then hung them at different points of the university campus. The banners signed by Student Collectives read:

"Stability of the Palace / June 5, 2015 HDP Diyarbakır Rally / July 20, 2015 Suruç / October 10, 2015 Ankara Peace Rally / January 12, 2016 Sultanahmet Square / February 6, 2016 Cizre Basement / February 17, 2016 Front of General Staff / March 13, 2016 Güvenpark / March 19, 2016 İstiklal Avenue / Massacre, Blood, Broadcast/Publication Ban, Tears".

The faculty administration called the police, who entered the campus and took down the banners. Police officers also detained 8 students. The students were released after their depositions.

A fine of 219 Turkish Lira (TRY) was given to students Burcu Bardakçı and Erdem Yinanç each on the ground that they "hung banners without permission" as per the Article 42 of the Law no. 5326 on Misdemeanor.

After their objections were rejected by the penal courts of peace, they made an individual application to the Constitutional Court.

The students applied to the Court on September 11, 2019 and the ruling of right violation and retrial given by the Constitutional Court was published on the Official Gazette on October 31. (AS/SD)