The Observatory has been informed about the ongoing judicial harassment against environmental and human rights defender Ms Füsun Ergün,
aka Füsun Kayra. Ms Ergün is the spokesperson of Ekoloji Birliği
(Ecology Unity/Union) Women’s Assembly, and is involved in Kazdağları
Ecology Platform and Kazdağları Sisterhood. She is also a member of the
Marmara Region Solidarity and Coordination Group, under the Human Rights
Foundation of Turkey - HRFT (Türkiye İnsan Hakları Vakfı – TİHV) human rights defenders project.
On March 27, 2023, at 14.00, the Milas 3rd Criminal Court of First
Instance is expected to hand down its verdict against Füsun Ergün in
what will be the sixth hearing in her trial. Ms Ergün faces criminal
proceedings on the charge of "prevention of public duty" (Article 265 of
the Penal Code of Turkey) for her participation in the İkizköy Akbelen
Resistance, a series of peaceful protests aiming to protect Akbelen
Forest in İkizköy Neighborhood located in Muğla, south-west of Turkey,
from mining operations. If convicted, Füsun Ergün could face up to four
years in prison.
İkizköy Akbelen Resistance started in October 2019, when residents of
Muğla İkizköy started protests to protect the Akbelen Forest from
mining companies, which are planning on destroying it in order to expand
the lignite mining site that fuels the Yeniköy-Kemerköy thermal power
stations. These protests turned into a continuous ongoing vigil on July
17, 2021, when teams affiliated with the General Directorate of Forestry
entered the Akbelen Forest to start operations and cut down trees.
Residents of İkizköy carried out a nationwide campaign and filed
administrative objections in 2019 and 2020, which resulted in two
separate stay of execution orders. The first one was issued by the Muğla
1st Administrative Court for the cutting down of trees and the second
one by the Muğla 3rd Administrative Court for the annulment of the
permission to carry out the mining site operations. Despite those
orders, mining companies and gendarmerie forces continue to prevent the
protests until today. The mining companies threatened the residents with
dismissal from their jobs and cut off their access to water for ten
days in 2019. The gendarmerie intervened in the protests and exercised
extra-judicial use of force several times.
On August 11, 2021, approximately 250 gendarmerie officers raided the
area and forcibly removed 11 peaceful protestors from the Akbelen
Forest. Füsun Ergün, who had tied herself to a tree, was violently
detained by the gendarmerie forces and taken into custody for one day,
before being charged with "prevention of public duty". The two-page-long
indictment alleges that while being taken out of the protest area,
Füsun Ergün prevented gendarmerie forces from carrying out their public
duty.
Since she was charged, the Milas 3rd Criminal Court of First Instance
has hold five hearings in the case of Füsun Ergün. During the second
hearing, the presenting judge and the public prosecutor overtly violated
Ms Ergün’s right to due process and legally established criminal
procedures. The judge ordered Füsun Ergün to stand still and not to sit
down, and argued with her attorneys, who were in turn threatened by the
public prosecutor. In the same hearing, the public prosecutor submitted
his final opinion for the conviction of Füsun Ergün. The attorneys
requested a recusation of the judges and İzmir Bar Association submitted
a complaint to the Council of Judges and Prosecutors, which was still
pending at the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal. The following
three hearings were postponed due to the ongoing evaluation of the
recusation, which the court eventually overruled.
The Observatory strongly condemns the judicial harassment against
Füsun Ergün, which seems to be only aimed at preventing her from
exercising her legitimate environmental and human rights activities.
The Observatory urges the authorities in Turkey to put an immediate
end to the judicial harassment against Füsun Ergün and all human and
environmental rights defenders in the country, and to guarantee her
rights to due process and fair trial. The Observatory further urges the
authorities to ensure that Füsun Ergün and all environmental and human
rights defenders in Turkey are able to carry out their legitimate
activities without any hindrance or fear of reprisals.
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