Urgent Call for International Action to Prevent Lifelong Sentencing of Eren Keskin

Eren Keskin (1959) is a lawyer and co-president of the Human Rights Associationin Turkey (İHD). Having worked on contested human rights issues for almostthirty years, Keskin has contributed to the protection of minority rights,countered violence against women, and campaigned to challenge militarism andend torture. Keskin is the founder of a legal office providing pro bono services for trans-persons andwomen who were raped or sexually abused by the national security forces. Anhonorary member of the Paris Bar Council, Keskin is the winner of multipleinternational awards for her peace and human rights work, including the 2018Helsinki Civil Society Award.

In retaliation for herhuman rights activities, Keskin has been subject to multiple instances of persecutionand harassment, including assassination attempts. An ardent advocate of freedomof expression, Keskin was sentenced and imprisoned in 1995 for using the word Kurdistan. Today, again, Keskin is atimmediate risk of the imposition of an exorbitant amount of monetary fines, andof imprisonment for the rest of her life.

In support of theright of freedom of expression and a symbolic gesture of support to theimprisoned editorial staff, from 2013 to 2016 Eren Keskin held the title of‘editor-in-chief’ for Özgür Gündem,one of the few independent newspapers in Turkey critical of the government andknown for its extensive reporting on the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. Due to hertitle as ‘editor-in-chief’, over 120 cases have been lodged against her in Turkishcourts.[1]Keskin was targeted by criminal convictions for news and articles by otherauthors exercising their right to freedom of expression. According to theTurkish Press Law, editors-in-chief can be indicted for publications in caseswhen the responsible authors cannot be held to account.

Six of these caseshave resulted in court rulings with all appeal options already exhausted. Theconvictions are for ‘insulting the President’ and for ‘failure to publisharticle corrections in the newspaper’. Fines of nearly €14,500 (TL 72,000) havebeen imposed upon Keskin. Failure to pay the outstanding monetary fines wouldresult in approximately 8,5 years of imprisonment. Only four cases have beenconcluded in favour of Keskin, either due to decisions of acquittal or due tothe statute of limitations.

In a further 69 cases,Eren Keskin has been pronounced guilty but they are still under review beforethe Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court. Unless the decisions of the courtsof first instance are reversed, a cumulative sentence of 12,5 years and a fine ofapproximately € 93,000 (TL 460,000) will be imposed on Keskin, in particular dueto following offenses: ‘spreading propaganda for an armed terrorist organisation’(Law on Fight against Terrorism, Article7(2)), ‘denigrating the Turkish nation, the Republic of Turkey,institutions and organs of the State’ (TurkishCriminal Code, Article 301), ‘insulting the President’ (Turkish Criminal Code, Article 299)[2],‘failure to publish article corrections in the newspaper’ (Press Law, Article 18), ‘revealing the identity of the accused’ (Press Law, Article 21(c)), and ‘insult’(Turkish Criminal Code, Article 125).

As of April 2018, thereare still 47 cases against Keskin awaiting convictions. Court sessions intrials related to her title as the ‘editor-in-chief’ of Özgür Gündem will be held on May 3 and 7, 2018[3].Additionally, Keskin is one of the nine defendants, including advisory boardmembers, journalists and the editorial director of Özgür Gündem, in another ongoing prosecution, which includesterrorism-related offences. This prosecution carries the risk of a sentence ofup to 24 years in prison. The next court session in this case is scheduled for June4, 2018.

In addition toindictments related to her editor-in-chief title with Özgür Gündem, Keskin has also been charged for statements she made[4]after the shooting of a father and child by police in South-Eastern Mardin’sKızıltepe district in 2004[5],and for an article she wrote on alleged abuses by the armed forces, entitled ‘TheRadical Evil’.

In addition to themounting indictments, Keskin’s ongoing work as a human rights lawyer ischallenged as well: the legal team of the Office of the President of Turkey hasfiled an application to the Istanbul Bar Association to impose disciplinarymeasures on Keskin, which may result in disbarment. A travel ban has also been imposedon Keskin.

In the context offlagrant abuse of judicial power in Turkey against Keskin and ongoing legalharassment of representatives of the human rights community in the country, theundersigned organisations call for high-level political attention to the caseof Eren Keskin.

Theundersigned organisations call upon the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situationof Human Rights Defenders, the Council of Europe Commissioner on Human Rights,the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and the UN Special Rapporteuron the Independence of Judges and Lawyers to make urgent interventions with theTurkish government to mitigate imminent threats to Eren Keskin, pleading to acquitKeskin.

The undersignedorganisations call upon the EU and its Member States as well as other internationalagencies and bodies in dialogue with the government of Turkey to:

- call in public statements,through official demarches and in bilateral talks with the government of Turkeyfor the dropping of charges and acquittal of Eren Keskin, making the case forprotection of Keskin and other human rights defenders and journalists in Turkeyin any contacts with Turkish government officials, including in negotiations onvisa-free travel for Turkish citizens to the EU, as well as on economiccooperation, trade and investment;

- condemn the criminalisationof the exercise of freedom of expression and the right to defend human rightsin Turkey;

- call for therevision of restrictive legislation in Turkey, including the broadanti-terrorism laws misused in indictments against human rights defenders,journalists and other dissenting voices;

- call for therevision of the law on press stipulating the possibility of a wide range ofindictments against editors-in-chief and authors, used to suppress freedom ofexpression and freedom of media;

- call for the liftingof the state of emergency, used to shield the attack on fundamental freedomsand the rule of law in Turkey.

Theundersigned organisations call upon the Turkish authorities to:

- put an end to allforms of harassment, including at the judicial level against Eren Keskin, asthey come in retaliation for her peaceful and legitimate human rights work;

- in the meantime,guarantee that all pending judicial proceedings against her are carried out infull compliance with the right to a fair trial;

- ensure that humanrights defenders in Turkey are able to carry out their peaceful and legitimatework without hindrance and fear of reprisals;

- refrain fromcriminalising human rights defenders under trumped up terrorism charges;

- comply with all theprovisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adoptedby the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular its Articles 1,6(a), 9, 11 and 12.2;

- ensure in allcircumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordancewith international human rights standards and international instrumentsratified by Turkey.

[1] Özgür Gündem was shut down in August 2016 by a courtorder following the coup d’etatattempt in Turkey, while several criminal charges were brought against itsjournalists and editors. More than 100 persons voluntarily named themselves aseditor-in-chiefs on a rotating basis.

[2] Eren Keskin was found guilty for a headline ‘Tens of Thousands Speak Outfrom the Square where the Peace was Murdered: Murderer Erdogan’ by acontributor to Özgür Gündem that waspublished after the bombing of a peace demonstration on 10 October 2015 inAnkara, in which over 100 people were killed.

[3] Other defendants in trials scheduled forMay 2018 include Huseyin Aykol as the editor-in-chief, Reyhan Capan as theeditorial director and Zuheyla Yilmaz as one of the writers of the articlessubject to charges.

[4] Keskin words were as follows: ‘The State has a brutal perspective,which could even slaughter a 12 year-old child. Turkey should provide anaccount of its actions. It has a dark history.’

[5] Makbule Kaymaz andothers v. Turkey, judgement as of 25.02.2014, the European Court of Human Rights, Information Note onthe Court’s case-law (171), February 2014, available at: https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/CLIN_2014_02_171_ENG.pdf. @font-face { font-family: "Cambria Math";}@font-face { font-family: "Calibri";}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; line-height: 107%; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; }p.MsoFootnoteText, li.MsoFootnoteText, div.MsoFootnoteText { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Calibri; }span.MsoFootnoteReference { vertical-align: super; }span.NotedebasdepageCar { }.MsoChpDefault { font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; }.MsoPapDefault { margin-bottom: 8pt; line-height: 107%; }div.WordSection1 { }