Release detained Boğaziçi protestors

On 4 January, at least 45 students were detained following a peaceful protest at Boğaziçi University. Nine people are in pre-trial detention and 27 others are under house arrest.

On 1 January Professor Melih Bulu was appointed as the rector of Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. Following this announcement, a group of students held an overwhelmingly peaceful protest at the entrance of the campus. Professor Melih Bulu is a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party who once stood as a candidate in parliamentary elections. The students regard the appointment as a move by Erdogan to curtail academic freedoms, and are demanding the right for the university to elect its own rector.

Law enforcement officials used tear gas and water cannons indiscriminately to disperse the largely peaceful protestors, and some students were dragged on the floor, beaten and briefly detained.

At least 45 students were detained and allegedly subjected to torture and other ill-treatment. One student was allegedly hit on the head with a police helmet and another reported that officers held a gun to their head soon after they entered the house. At least eight students said they were forcibly strip searched, some more than once, while two LGBTI+ students were allegedly threatened with rape with a truncheon and verbally abused.

The situation now

Nine people, the majority university students, are in pre-trial detention and 27 others are under house arrest in Turkey for participating in the protests.

Email the Turkish authorities and call on them to immediately and unconditionally release all those detained in pre-trial detention or house arrest for simply exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

They should drop all criminal investigations against the protestors and investigate the allegations of torture and other ill-treatment by law enforcement officials and bring those responsible to justice.

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Email the Turkish authorities and call on them to immediately and unconditionally release all those detained in pre-trial detention or house arrest.

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I am writing regarding the orders of pre-trial detention issued by a court in Cağlayan Courthouse, (in Istanbul’s Sisli district), of two peaceful protestors, both students at Boğaziçi University, and the orders to hold 14 others in house arrest. The two students were detained pending trial on 30 January 2021 for allegedly ‘inciting the public to enmity and hatred’ over an artwork on display in an art exhibition held at the Boğaziçi University Campus.

Seven others, the majority of them students, were remanded in pre-trial detention by courts in the Anadolu Courthouse (in Istanbul’s Kartal district) between 5 and 8 February for their participation in peaceful protests in the Kadıköy district of Istanbul in support of the Boğaziçi University protestors. 13 others are under house arrest.

The decisions to deprive these people of their liberty were made because of their participation in overwhelmingly peaceful protests following the appointment of Professor Melih Bulu as rector of Boğaziçi University on 1 January 2021. According to the Minister of Interior, more than 800 protestors have been taken into police custody throughout Turkey for exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression since the start of the protests on 4 January. Hundreds have been subjected to judicial controls. Law enforcement officers used unnecessary and excessive force against protestors and several detainees were allegedly subjected to ill-treatment.

Amnesty International believes the unfair pre-trial detention and house arrest decisions are in violation of the Boğaziçi University protestors’ right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

In the light of the above, I urge you both to:
-	Drop all criminal investigations against all protestors for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly;
-	Request the immediate and unconditional release of all those deprived of their liberty solely for peacefully exercising their human rights, either in pre-trial detention or house arrest;
-	Launch prompt, thorough independent and impartial investigations into all allegations of use of unlawful force and ill-treatment and bring those responsible to justice in fair trials.

Yours sincerely,

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