The aim of this study is to analyze the findings of trial monitoring conducted by the Human Rights Association within the scope of the right to a fair trial. To this end, 112 hearings were monitored in 30 different cases. The monitoring was carried out in the form of trial observation. Yet, trial observation was not limited to the courtroom; developments outside the courtroom, especially the security measures taken around the court building on the day of the trial, measures, if any, to prevent lawyers, observers, civil society organizations and observers who wanted to be present and observe the trials from entering the courtroom, or other measures taken, if any, to prevent press statements, assemblies and demonstrations were also recorded.
Almost all of the cases monitored were initiated into civil society organizations, professional associations, human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists and various social groups for their public participation activities in the form of statements of opinion, press conferences or demonstrations.
The cases monitored were selected as much as possible from those filed in different regions and cities in Türkiye. In this context, a total of 30 cases were monitored, including eight cases in Ankara, seven cases in İstanbul, five cases in Van, four cases in İzmir, four cases in Diyarbakır, and one case each in Eskişehir and Muğla.
All of the cases monitored were initiated due to the defendants’ statements or activities such as organizing assemblies, demonstrations or press releases. Therefore, these cases can be characterized as cases that essentially aim to silence critical voices and instrumentalize the judicial system as a tool to this end.
How these trials are conducted and whether the principles of fair trial are respected are of vital importance for the functioning of the rule of law and the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. Therefore, in this study, the principles of the right to a fair trial established by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Constitutional Court will be presented and the problems identified in the trial observations will be addressed within this framework.
The main problem with these cases, however, is not whether they are conducted fairly or not, but the fact that these cases have indeed been filed. In other words, these are cases that should not have been brought at all, and should not have even been the subject of an investigation, but were initiated into acts that are in their very essence the exercise of fundamental rights and freedoms to deter and intimidate. In other words, the main problem with these cases is not how they are conducted, but why they are filed.
For instance, one of the cases monitored is the case against the participants of the 700th-week vigil of the Saturday Mothers, which took place on 25 August 2018. Women whose relatives were forcibly disappeared in the 1990s had been staging peaceful sit-ins in front of Galatasaray High School every Saturday for 700 weeks in order to find their disappeared relatives. However, in the 700th week, the protest was not allowed to take place on the grounds that it had not been notified to the local administrative authority and was therefore an illegal gathering, and was forcibly dispersed by law enforcement officers. Under Article 32 of the Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations, a criminal case was filed against the participants of this demonstration, demanding imprisonment from six months to three years on the grounds that they participated in an unlawful meeting or demonstration and insisted on not dispersing despite warnings and use of force. In the case filed against 37 defendants in 2020, 15 hearings were held and in the 15th hearing held on 14.03.2025, all defendants were acquitted.
It is of vital importance to reveal the violations of rights during the trial in this case. Read full report here.