The third hearing of the closure case against the We Will Stop Femicide Platform was held today in the Istanbul 13th Civil Court of First Instance.Numerous lawyers, women's rights and LGBTI+ centers of various bar associations, women's associations, KESK, TİHV and other organizations, as well as observers from the Irish, Finnish, French and Dutch consulates and many families supported by the platform attended the hearing.In the lawsuit filed, the prosecutor requests the closure of the We Will Stop Femicide Platform for allegedly “acting against the law and morality.”The next hearing will be held on September 13th.
The judge: Who did you meet with from the association?
At the hearing, numerous lawyers took the floor and stated that this case is an attempt to obstruct the functioning of the association and demanded the dismissal of the case. The lawyers emphasized that the outcome of the case will affect all women and civil society organizations in Turkey.Then, the relatives of the murdered women also took the floor and explained the importance of the Platform for them and for society. The judge asked the witnesses what the purpose of the association was and whom they had met and talked with from the association.The father of the research assistant Ceren Damar, who was killed by a student she caught cheating in the university where she worked in 2019, the mother of Deniz Aktaş, who was killed in 2015, Arzu Sena Topuz, who was sexually assaulted during her internship at a law firm in 2020, Nurhayat Küçükbaltacılar, the mother of Eda Küçükbaltacılar who died suspiciously in 2021, and Şilan Narman, who was kidnapped and held hostage by her ex-husband, spoke one after another, explaining how the platform had supported and empowered them.Then, the lawyers submitted their statements in writing and requested a larger courtroom for the next hearing.The judge rejected all requests for intervention and adjourned the trial. The next hearing will be held on September 13th.
Background
Following the complaints made to the Prime Ministry Communication Center (BİMER) in 2016 by a person claiming to be a victim of alimony, an investigation was initiated against the We Will Stop Femicide Platform Association.According to the Law on Associations, associations cannot engage in activities outside the working topics specified in their bylaws, and the managers of associations who do so may face imprisonment and fines. In the one-and-a-half-page indictment prepared by Istanbul Public Prosecutor Mustafa Güner in December 2021, it was requested that the association be dissolved on the grounds that it “carried out activities contrary to the law and ethics.” The indictment stated that the association was operating outside its intended purpose, and that its purpose had become contrary to the law, and reminded that managers who engaged in such activities could face penalties. The prosecutor, however, does not provide any evidence for his accusations.The trial, which began in June 2022, was attended by over 60 lawyers and many women, as well as families whose daughters were killed by male violence. Intervention requests from the women's rights centers of the Istanbul, Gaziantep, Ankara, Eskişehir, Izmir, Diyarbakır, Kocaeli, Kırklareli, Adıyaman and Tekirdağ Bar Associations, Ankara Bar Association LGBTI+ Rights Center, the Women and Children First Association and 109 families whose daughters were killed were all rejected by the court.The We Will Stop Femicide Platform was established after the murder of Münevver Karabulut in 2010 and became an official association in 2012. The association operates in 76 provinces of Turkey, follows femicide cases, shows solidarity with the families of murdered women, and organizes campaigns against human rights violations against women.*This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The work may be used and redistributed for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution to the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA).
Medya ve Hukuk Çalışmaları Derneği (MLSA) haber alma hakkı, ifade özgürlüğü ve basın özgürlüğü alanlarında faaliyet yürüten bir sivil toplum kuruluşudur. Derneğimiz başta gazeteciler olmak üzere mesleki faaliyetleri sebebiyle yargılanan kişilere hukuki destek vermektedir.
