Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı Sentenced to 2 Years, 6 Months in Prison

About Şebnem Korur Fincancı

Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı is a rights advocate and the Chair of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV). The Foundation has been involved in the documentation of the cases of torture, rehabilitation of its victims and provision of legal assistance to them.

Şebnem Korur Fincancı is also one of the founding members of the Forensic Doctors' Association and has played the major role in the development of the United Nations reference standards on the investigation and documentation of the cases of torture, the Istanbul Protocol.

She has conducted forensic investigations to expose torture in multiple countries and in 2014 she received the International Hrant Dink Award. She has also been one of the founders of the Turkish Penal Code Association.

Devoting her professional life to the investigation and documentation of torture as well as struggle against it, Korur Fincancı has become one of the milestones in Turkey in that regard. Preparing reports on cases of torture and writing on medical ethics in the 1990s, when torture was prevalent in Turkey, she was met with the oppression and preventions by the state.

In 1997, she became the Head of Forensic Medicine Department at İstanbul University. In 2004, she was dismissed from this post. In 2005, she was reinstated by the Administrative Court and as per the decision of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK).

Şebnem Korur Fincancı also participated in the Editors-in-Chief on Watch campaign that was launched in solidarity with the Özgür Gündem newspaper, which was closed as per a Statutory Decree. Korur Fincancı was arrested on June 20, 2016 for having participated in the campaign and was released on June 30, 2016.

About the Trials of Academics

On January 10, 2016, 1,128 academics published a declaration entitled "We will not be party to this crime" on behalf of the Academics for Peace initiative.

With the participation of further academics, the number of academics who have signed the declaration has reached 2,212.

With the indictment issued by the Prosecutor İsmet Bozkurt, lawsuits were filed against the academics on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article No. 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law No. 3713.

As of December 19, 2018, 429 academics had stood trial since December 5, 2017. 59 of these academics were sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison; 3 academics to 1 year and 6 months in prison; one academic to 2 years and 3 months in prison; one academic has been sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison.

The ones who did not request suspension of announcement of verdict

Until today, nine academics have not accepted that the announcement of their verdicts be suspended. While six of these academics have been sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison, three academics have been sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison and one academic has been sentenced to 2 years and 3 months in prison.

* Prof. Dr. Büşra Ersanlı - At the 32nd Heavy Penal Court - 1 year, 3 months in prison. While the sentence has been reduced, the announcement of the verdict has not been deferred.

* Prof. Dr. Zübeyde Füsun Üstünel - At the 32nd Heavy Penal Court - 1 year, 3 months in prison. The sentence has been reduced. The announcement of the verdict has not been deferred.

* Prof. Dr. Ayşe Erzan - At the 32nd Heavy Penal Court - 1 year, 3 months in prison. The sentence has been reduced, the announcement of the verdict has not been suspended.

* Prof. Dr. Nesrin Sungur Çakmak - At the 32nd Heavy Penal Court - 1 year, 3 months in prison. The sentence has been reduced, the pronouncement of the verdict has not been suspended.

* Prof. Dr. Özdemir Aktan - 1 year, 3 months in prison. While the sentence has been reduced, the pronouncement of the verdict has not been deferred.

* Lecturer Aslı Takanay - The verdict has not been pronounced.

* Assoc. Prof. Dr. Esra Arsan - The verdict has not been pronounced.

* Prof. Dr. Gülhan Türkay - 1 year, 3 months in prison. While the prison sentenced has been reduced, the pronouncement of the verdict has not been suspended.

* Dr. Lecturer Lütfiye Bozdağ - 1 year, 6 months in prison. Her prison sentence has not been reduced. The announcement of the verdict has not been deferred.

The ones whose statements were not taken

* Research Assistant Onur Baysal - At the 28th Heavy Penal Court - 1 year, 3 months in prison. The court deferred his sentence without demanding his statement about it.

* Dr. Yonca Güneş Yücel  - At the 28th Heavy Penal Court - 1 year, 6 months in prison. It was claimed that the academic accepted the suspension of the announcement of the verdict though her statement was not taken. The verdict has been deferred on the condition of 2-year probation.

* Prof. Dr. Gençay Gürsoy - At the 37th Heavy Penal Court - His statement as to the suspension of the pronouncement of the verdict was never taken. He has been sentenced to 2 years and 3 months in prison.

On March 10, 2016, the Academics for Peace made a statement for press and shared with the public what they had been going through since the declaration "We will not be a party to this crime" was published. The academics Dr. Lecturer Esra Mungan, Dr. Lecturer Muzaffer Kaya, Assoc. Prof. Dr Kıvanç Ersoy (March 15, 2016) and Dr. Lecturer Meral Camcı (March 31, 2016), who read out the above-mentioned statement for press, were arrested on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article No. 7/2 of the Turkish Anti-Terror Law. They were released on April 2016. Upon the request of the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Justice granted a permission of trial as per the Article No. 301 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 301 on charges of "insulting the Turkish Nation, the State of the Republic of Turkey and the institutions and organs of the government."