Constitutional Court: Distributing leaflets and holding demonstrations are constitutional rights

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The Constitutional Court has given two separate judgments about the right to assembly and demonstration and the principle of the legality of the crime and punishment.

In both rulings, the top court recognized that both rights are constitutional rights and administrative fines caused rights violations.

State of emergency

In May 2019, an iftar (fast-breaking during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan) event was organized in Ankara's Yüksel Street as part of the "I want my job back" protests carried out by public employees dismissed by statutory decrees after the 2016 coup attempt.

Police prevented the event and briefly detained the people who wanted to attend the event. Two of them, İpek Moral and Nuriye Gülmen, were separately handed monetary fines of 320 lira as per the Misdemeanor Law.

After penal judgeships of peace rejected the two people's appeals against the fines, they filed individual applications with the Constitutional Court.

Handing down its judgment in the Gülmen case, the top court ruled that the right to assembly and demonstration, which is guaranteed by article 34 of the Constitution, was violated, and she should be paid 4,500 lira of attorney fee.

The verdict should be sent for a retrial to the Ankara 3rd Penal Judgeship of Peace and the Ankara 6th Penal Judgeship of Peace for the elimination of the consequences of the violation, the court ruled.

It further stated that the ban on the event was based on a 2018 decision by the Ankara Governor's Office during the state of emergency declared after the 2016 coup attempt. However, it noted, the state of emergency had been lifted at the time when the incident that was the subject of the application took place.

Distributing leaflets

The Constitutional Court also found a right violation in the case of Fırat Can Kara, a member of the Halkevleri (Community Centers), who had been fined 153 lira for distributing leaflets about the economic crisis in Ankara in 2019.

The police had taken three people distributing leaflets to the police station and fined them as per the Misdemeanor Law. Kara was not among those three people but the police had fined him later, after summoning him to the police station.

The Ankara 3rd Penal Judgeship of Peace rejected an appeal against the fine, concluding that it was in compliance with the laws and procedures.

Filing an application with the Constitutional Court, Kara stated that article 37 of the Misdemeanor Law could not be applied for handing out leaflets. He said he had been fined without a legal basis.

Examining the case, the court concluded that Kara's allegations should be evaluated within the scope of the principle of the legality of the crime and punishment, which is guaranteed by article 38 of the Constitution.

The fine against Kara violated this principle and the judgeship's rejection of the appeal contradicted the essence of article 37, it concluded.

The case should be retried and Kara should be paid 4,500 lira attorney fee, it ruled. (HA/AS/VK)