Court in Turkeyacquitted 19 defendants today of their participation in the Pride March (Pride) of LOATKI + on a campus, as their actions, it was ruled, do not constitute a crime.
Most of the students and a member of the teaching staff of Middle East Technical University (METU) were accused of “refused to disband»According to the order of the police in this course, of 2019. It is noted that the authorities had used pepper spray, rubber bullets and tear gas canisters.
Following the failed military coup in Turkey in 2016, local governments were given the authority to ban public gatherings, and authorities across the country used these powers to outlaw Pride marches. Since then these powers have been revoked, reports Reuters.
The defense attorney Oiku Didem Aydin, who was holding a rainbow flag in protest, had demanded the acquittal of the accused, saying that freedom of expression is a right enshrined in the Constitution:
“What harm can this flag when I hold it in my hand? Does this mean that I refuse to disperse despite the police warning? “A student is brought in just because he holds a flag.”
“Videos taken by police during the demonstration show a police officer shouting ‘We are against your existence”, Said Aydin.
Following the ruling, Aydin told Reuters outside a court in Ankara that the ruling was correct, but it is a “shame” that young people were treated as criminals for two years.
Homosexuality is legal in Turkey, but Pride marches are repeated be banned recent years. Lesbians, gays or transgender people are often considered immoral.
His socially conservative AKP party President Erdogan has ruled Turkey for two decades. Turkey ranked second from the bottom in a list of 49 European countries for the protection of LGBT + rights in 2021 compiled by the support organization ILGA-Europe.
A student was convicted of payment of a fine for “insulting” the authorities due to gestures during the demonstration.
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