An expert opinion by Helen Duffy on the Indictment filed by Turkish prosecutors against academic and human rights defender Rasime Şebnem Fincancı Korur and its compatibility with international human rights law (IHRL) has been published. Dr Fincancı is a medical expert and human rights advocate, formerly President of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, President of the Turkish Medical Association and academic at Istanbul University. According to the indictment (No 2022/8895, originally filed on 19 October 2022 before the High Criminal Court of Ankara), Dr. Fincancı was interviewed by Medya Haber TV about the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Turkish state. She opined, based on a video she was shown on the show, that toxic, chemical and poisonous gases had been used and that these allegations should be investigated in line with human rights standards. The indictment states that during her interview, and while her name and expertise were shown on the screen, images of deceased PKK members, apparently killed by the chemical weapons in question, were shown by Haber TV with subtitles referring to them as ‘massacred’ ‘guerrillas’. As a result, she was prosecuted for disseminating propaganda in favour of a terrorist organisation, under Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law in light of Articles 53, 58/9, and 63 of the Turkish Penal Code, Article 325/1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The legal analysis, finding multiple concerns with the prosecution of the accused on the basis set out in the indictment, is available here.