Detained ahead of the trial over İstanbul Convention protests, women released

* Credit: Ankara Women's Platform

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Put on trial for joining the protests against Turkey's possible withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention in August 2020, 33 women had their first hearing at the 28th Penal Court of First Instance today (June 7).

NOTE: Turkey has withdrawn from the Convention by a Presidential decision on March 20, 2021, which has sparked further protests.

The Ankara Women's Platform wanted to make a statement for the press in front of the courthouse before today's hearing. The police intervened against the women and did not allow them to make the statement "on the grounds of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic."

Women opened a banner of "İstanbul Convention is ours, it cannot be put on trial." The police intervened against them with pepper spray.

While the phone of JinNews reporter Dilan Babayiğit was seized during the intervention, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reporter Hakan Yalçın was battered. Battering the journalists, police officers were reportedly heard to be saying, "You do not go away when the police say so; then, you say there is police violence. You are all liars, you are all immoral."

İnadına isyan
İnadına Özgürlük #İstanbulSözleşmesiYaşatır pic.twitter.com/dXL4JeZV2z

— Filiz Kerestecioğlu (@FilizKer) June 7, 2021

Women protested police violence

Moved away from the courthouse, women protested the police by chanting the slogans, "We don't fear, we don't hush, we don't obey" and "Not male justice, but real justice." Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Diyarbakır MP Semra Güzel, Ankara MP Filiz Kerestecioğlu and İstanbul MP Züleyha Gülüm were also there to follow the hearing and supported women.

Marching from the courthouse to nearby Sıhhiye Street, women protested police violence. Police attacked them with pepper spray again after the women said, "Women are standing trial here because they said, 'Implement the İstanbul Convention.' Who is put on trial here is not us women, but the male justice. We women will implement the convention."

Nearly 20 women were detained in the attack.

When HDP Diyarbakır MP Güzel protested the police, the police moved them away from the scene of the incident, saying, "Stop talking."

The detained have been released after giving their statements.

Hearing protested

The attorneys who attended the hearing afterwards said that the police battered women by spraying tear gas and took them into custody.

The attorneys filed a criminal complaint against the police officers who battered the attorneys and women on trial by battering them and did not allow the women standing trial today to enter the courthouse.

However, the court board has rejected this request and adjourned the hearing until November 26, 2021. Hearing this decision, several women and attorneys waiting outside the courtroom applauded in protest against the police violence; they chanted the slogans, "Not male justice, but real justice" and "We don't hush, we don't fear, we don't obey."

What happened?

Before it was still debated whether Turkey would withdraw from the İstanbul Convention, the members of the Ankara Women's Platform staged a protest in Kolej, Çankaya on August 12, 2020.

In the ensuing police attack, 33 women, including Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reporter Eylem Akdağ, were battered and taken into custody.

Released from detention, 33 women were put on trial for "violating the Law no. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations." The first hearing was held at the Ankara 28th Heavy Penal Court on June 7, 2021. (EMK/SD)