Releasing a joint statement regarding the prison sentence given to Şebnem Korur Fincancı, a signatory to the declaration “We will not be a party to this crime”, rights and law organizations have said, “Advocacy for human rights cannot be sentenced.”
Rights and law organizations have held a press conference at the İstanbul Medical Chamber for Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, who is a signatory to the declaration entitled "We will not be a party to this crime" and was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison.
The representatives who attended the meeting have said, "We are with Şebnem Korur Fincancı and Academics for Peace."
Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) Chair Prof. Dr. Korur Fincancı was sentenced to prison for "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" because of signing the declaration "We will not be a party to this crime."
CLICK- Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı Sentenced to 2 Years, 6 Months in Prison
The joint declaration in the name of the rights and law organizations have been read by İstanbul Commerce Chamber (İTO) Chair Dr. Pınar Saip.
Veysi Eski from the Libertarian Lawyers Platform (ÖHP), Gökmen Yeşil from the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD), Rengin Ergül from the Foundation for Society and Legal Studies (TOHAV), Ruhat Sena Akşener from the Amnesty International, Murat Çelikkan from Center for Memory, Dr. Ümit Biçer from the TİHV have made speeches at the press conference.
Biçer: Expression of unlawfulness
"Şebnem Korur Fincancı prepared reports to prove the torture being made in Palestine. She was influential on the reports about the people who were subjected to violence and torture in the Mavi Marmara ship, and the people who were killed in Cizre.
"Korur Fincancı was given the heaviest sentence up to today in the trials of academics. The sentence given to her is an expression of the unlawfulness we are facing today."
Çelikkan: Human rights organizations are on the target
"That sentence was given to Korur Fincancı for a reason. This shows that after the academics and journalists, human rights organizations are on the target now. In the person of Fincancı, it is the human rights movement in Turkey which is wanted to be silenced."
Akşener: We do not accept this sentence
"We, as rights defenders, will continue to report the human rights violations and share them with the public.
"We, as the international movement and the human rights organizations in Turkey, do not accept this sentence. We declare that we will act in unison with Professor Şebnem in all kinds of difficulties."
Ergül: Her imprisonment will be a shame for us
"This sentence was given to Professor Şebnem because of her documenting the violations of human rights, documenting the truth.
"We, as lawyers and human rights organizations, will always continue to defend the peace academics. We will do our best for her to not go in prison. If she goes in, it will be a shame for us."
Eski: Courts for fight against the truth
"The reason Professor Şebnem is being targeted is about an issue regarding Cizre. At the moment, the judiciary is turned into courts for fight against the truth. They are after fighting the truth. We should redefine the judiciary. This attack is based on fight against the truth."
Yeşil: Documented torture is reason of the sentence
"Our country is facing massive torture incidents in the last years. Torture was used in this land as an indispensable method of interrogation. Human rights organizations are the first ones who must be silenced by regressive administrations. Because these acts of torture are told to the world public opinion by human rights organizations.
"In the person of Professor Şebnem, this attempt for punishment targets all those who speak up. We will continue to be with who speak up."
Saip: I am proud of having shared same desks with her
Pınar Saip, before reading the joint statement, said she is "proud of having shared the same desks with Professor Şebnem."
"Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı has been given the heaviest sentence among the Academics for Peace. The reasons are, along with the declaration she signed, the interviews she gave to the press and reports she prepared on violations of human rights, in brief, the acts of defending human rights she insistently continued."
Korur Fincancı: This is our medal
Prof. Korur Fincancı, speaking after the speeches, said the prison sentence was not for her but for human rights:
"We have reported the crimes against humanity since 90's, but never 'committed a heavy crime' like Lice. Not only us, but all the academics indiscriminately are being sentenced. But these sentences are medals given to us, against crimes that were committed against humanity."
The organizations who supported the joint statement
İstanbul Commerce Chamber (İTO), Libertarian Lawyers Platform (ÖHP), Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD), Foundation for Society and Legal Studies (TOHAV), Amnesty International, Center for Truth, Justice and Memory, Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV), Human Rights Foundation (İHD).
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.
(GD/TP/VK)
Source: https://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/203848-sentence-given-t...