Eren Keskin sentenced to 3 years & 9 months in prison

On 21 May 2019, The Istanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court convicted Eren Keskin of “propagandising for a terrorist organisation” under Article 7(2) of the Anti-Terror Law and sentenced her to 3 years and 9 months in prison. The trial against her was related to the articles published in Özgür Gündem when she was the co-editor-in-chief.

Eren Keskin is a human rights defender and lawyer who has struggled for over thirty years for fundamental rights and freedoms in Turkey, especially for the Kurds, women and the LGBTI+ community. She has played a significant role in the establishment, activation, and strengthening of civil society structures in Turkey. In the early days of her career as a lawyer, she got involved with the Human Rights Association (IHD). For years, Eren Keskin served as the president of the Association’s Istanbul branch, before becoming the co-president of IHD. Eren Keskin has been arrested, imprisoned and subjected to numerous lawsuits for her legitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights. In 2004, she received the prestigious Aachen Peace Award "for her courageous efforts and activities for human rights", and in 2005, she was awarded the Theodor Haecker Prize for Civic Courage and Political Integrity. Further, in 2018, she received the Helsinki Civil Society Award and in the same year, she was also the finalist of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.

Since 2016, 23 columnists and rotating editors of the closed newspaper Özgür Gündem, including Eren Keskin, have faced charges of “openly inciting to commit crime” and “propagandising for a terrorist organisation”, related to articles published in the newspaper. During the final hearing of the case, on 21 May 2019, the Istanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court convicted seven defendants including Eren Keskin of "propagandising for a terrorist organization" under Article 7(2) of the Anti-Terror Law.

The court sentenced Eren Keskin to 3 years and 9 months, Ayşe Batumlu and Reyhan Hacıoğlu to 1 year and 3 months, Reyhan Çapan to 3 years and 9 months, Hüseyin Aykol to 2 years and 1 month, and Hüseyin Güçlü and Tahir Temel to 1 year and 6 months in prison. The prison sentences of Reyhan Hacıoğlu and Ayşe Batumlu were suspended. The defendants are planning to take their cases to the Regional Court of Appeal.

As the arrest warrants against seven other defendants have not been executed and their statements have not been taken yet, the court decided to separate their files. The case of one defendant was dropped due to the statute of limitations. Eight other defendants were acquitted.

To date, 143 lawsuits have been filed against Eren Keskin. Some of them have been merged by the courts. On 30 March 2018, the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced the human rights defender to 7,5 years in prison in relation to articles published in Özgür Gündem when she was the co-editor-in-chief. She was charged with "degrading the Turkish nation, the Republic, institutions and organs of the state" under Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code, and "insulting the President of the Republic of Turkey" under Article 299 of the Turkish Criminal Code. She was also ordered to pay a cumulative fine of 72.000 TRY (approximately 10.000 euros), while an additional fine of 460.000 TRY (approximately 65.000 euros) remains under review by the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.

On 10 October 2018, in the Özgür Gündem main case, the Istanbul 23rd High Criminal Court ordered to lift the international travel ban imposed on Eren Keskin, however, the international travel bans issued against her by other courts and related to other cases remain valid. As a consequence, Eren Keskin was unable to attend the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders ceremony held on 13 February 2019 in Geneva. On 9 May 2019, a special ceremony was held for Eren Keskin in Ankara with the participation of representatives of many international human rights organisations, including Front Line Defenders.

Front Line Defenders condemns the sentencing of Eren Keskin to prison and the ongoing judicial harassment against her, which is believed to be a direct result of her peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights. We further call on the Turkish authorities to guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Turkey are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment.