1,098 detentions, 33 arrests, 909,000 lira of fines in six months

Photo: Musa Piroğlu/Twitter

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The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV/HRFT) has released an information note about repression and obstacles faced by human rights advocates in the last six months.

It said fundamental rights and freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution and international conventions were arbitrarily restricted and those who oppose this faced detentions, arrests, and torture.

The events between March 1 and August 31 according to the information note based on the data of the TİHV Documentation Center:

• 729 days of demonstration bans were issued in 19 provinces and three districts, and one indefinite ban was issued in one district.

• Police intervened in 124 demonstrations and events, including 23 on women's and LGBTI+ rights, 21 on union rights and 11 on environmental rights. Twenty-one events were blocked.

• Indefinite curfews were declared for 80 villages in two districts.

Lawsuits and arrests

• 1,098 rights advocates were detained, including 119 LGBTI+ rights advocates and 14 environmental rights advocates.

• 290 rights advocates were fined a total of 909,598 Turkish lira (~105,000 USD) for gatherings and demonstrations they attended.

• 55 hearings of 338 defendants, including more than 20 lawyers, 87 women's and LGBTI+ rights advocates, and seven environmental activists, were held in six months.

• In the same period, various judicial control measures were imposed on 107 rights advocates and 33 were arrested.

• Investigations were opened against the executives of the İzmir Bar Association and the Diyarbakır Bar Association for their statements on LGBTI+ rights. Investigations were opened 26 rights advocates, including 18 lawyers. (AS/VK)