01/02/2024 | Writer: Yıldız Tar
Lawyer Kahraman criticized the expert report, which didn’t consider the police violence within the scope of the Ankara Pride March case: “The police officers who attacked the Pride march drew their strength from the same place where the 3rd Chamber of the Court of Cassation, which disregarded the violation verdicts for Can Atalay, draws its strength.”
Photo: Hayri Demir
The sixth hearing of the lawsuit brought against 42 people, who were detained by using violence last year during the 2nd Ankara Pride March was held yesterday (January 31) at the 52nd Penal Court of First Instance.
Kaos GL, Human Rights Association (İHD Ankara Branch, İHD Ankara LGBTI+ Commission and UniKuir followed the hearing.
Journalists were heard as witness in the previous trial and they told about the police violence faced on July 5, 2022. The attorneys of the LGBTI+ activists took objection to the expert report in the trial held yesterday. The court ruled a verdict on sending the footage to the expert again. The case was postponed to May 14, at 14.00 p.m.
Following the trial, the lawyers wanted to take a photo with a rainbow flag in front of the courtroom however they were prevented by a group of people in civilian clothes claiming that they were police officers. They did not show their ID when the lawyers asked for it, but took video footage from their personal phone and disregarded the demands of the lawyers who asked them to delete the footage. There, the lawyers of the case said they would file a criminal complaint.
The lawyer reacted against the verdict for Can Atalay
Stating that the expert report didn’t include an impartial examination because the expert is a courthouse employee, lawyer İlayda Doğa Karaman said the followings in the hearing:
“The export report, which was prepared upon the footage, doesn’t reflect the reality. The expert described the moments when the police pushed the demonstrators to the ground and punched them as ‘trying to take the banner out of their hands’. However, the footage clearly reveals police violence against the demonstrators. It was portrayed as if the protesters were attacking the police, when in fact the police were beating and detaining them. While it is the police officers who should be investigated and prosecuted, our clients are being tried without any concrete evidence, based only on a discriminatory and biased report, which is far from the concrete truth, prepared by the police.”
Reminding the dispute of Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) Hatay MP Can Atalay, Kahraman said: “The police officers who attacked the Pride march drew their strength from the same place where the 3rd Chamber of the Court of Cassation, which disregarded the violation verdicts for Can Atalay, draws its strength.”
Demanding that the footage be shown in court, lawyer Karaman stressed that police torture continued not only during the detention but also while the detainees were in custody until their statements were taken.
“We are not afraid, either”
And lawyer Seher Duygu Çildoğan said: “The expert report is not objective, it includes subjective remarks in line within the world view of the expert. The expert chose things as he saw fit and ballooned them. He prepared the report as if he were talking to his friend in a coffee shop.”
Recalling that her client’s chanting of the slogan “We are not afraid” was included in the expert report as “resisting the police”, lawyer Çildoğan said: “It is just a slogan, we are not afraid either.”
The expert report included in the file states that it is unclear whether the police made a “warning announce” in order to let the demonstrators to disperse. However, the report states that some police officers met with the demonstrators. The expert claimed that LGBTI+ activists “resisted during the police detention and made gestures to avoid being arrested”.
From the indictment: Those chanting IBDA-C slogans are “citizens”, Pride March is “so-called”
Although the indictment filed by Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office was initially rejected, the prosecutor’s objection was sustained, and the case, in which 42 people are charged on the grounds of violating Law no. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations, insulting, intentional injury and resisting to prevent public officers from performing their duty, began.
The indictment refers to the Ankara Pride March as “so-called”, while Islamist groups, who came together in order to attack LGBTI+s on the same day, were referred to as “citizens”. And the statement as “42 suspects were busted during the unlawful protests which were organized by people supporting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex (Lgbti+) formations” were used for detainee LGBTI+ activists.
Claiming that LGBTI+ activists detained with police violence attacked the police, the prosecutor added that a policeman’s “jeans bought for 299,99 TL was torn” into the indictment. On the other side intense police violence, which was also captured on cameras, was not included in the prosecutor’s indictment.
On the other hand, the prosecutor confessed blacklisting by stating that one of the persons detained during the Pride March is “known for his habitual participation in unlawful protests and being subjected to judicial investigations as a result of this”.
Pro-Great Eastern Islamic Raiders’ Front (IBDA-C), which is directly identified as a terrorist organization, slogans such as “Raiders are here, no passage for heresy” were also included in the indictment as “slogans of some citizens”.
What happened at the 2nd Ankara Pride March?
The police, who allowed anti-LGBTI+ Islamist groups to make hate and lynch calls at Hacı Bayram Mosque and Kuğulu Park, had attacked 2nd Ankara Pride March held on July 5, in 2022.
Kuğulu Park, where the 2nd Ankara Pride March was planned to be held, was encircled with police vehicles before the march. Journalists were driven apart forcibly from the area. And they kicked LGBTI+s out of the park by saying “We will not let the show.”
LGBTI+s brought about the Pride March against all the odds. The slogan “Despite hate, long live life” raised from the back streets of Tunalı Hilmi Avenue.
The police, who took an LGBTI+ activist into custody before the gathering began, detained 42 people by using overmuch tear gas. They practiced rear-handcuffing as a torture. The detainees were released after their testimonies were taken at the Police Department, in the early hours of July 6.
Emre Vural, journalist from Mezopotamya Agency, got maced in the face within the scope of the attacks, in which more than 20 LGBTI+ activists were taken into custody. The police also attacked Aslı Alpar, reporter of KaosGL.org, and injured their leg.
LGBTI+s marched through Tunalı Hilmi Avenue, with various small groups before the attacks. The police attacked and battered LGBTI+s in Bestekar Street and Kennedy Avenue. The press statement of Ankara Pride March was read by marching at Tunalı Hilmi Avenue. On the other side, anti-LGBTI+ religious groups also attempted to attack LGBTI+s.
Translation: Selma Koçak
Tags: human rights
