The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV/HRFT) has released an information note about repression and obstacles faced by human rights defenders in Turkey.

Data of the TİHV information note is collected by Regional Solidarity and Coordination Groups that are established to identify cases of repression and challenges faced by human rights defenders in Adana, Ankara, Diyarbakır, İstanbul, İzmir, Van, and nearby cities.

Accordingly, 23 human rights defenders were sentenced to 1 aggravated life sentence and 211 years, 4 months, and 10 days in prison between 1 January 2022 and 30 April 2022.

Legal harassment

When the total sum is taken into account, 1,415 individuals were targeted by at least one intervention including judicial harassment, administrative harassment, threats, and reprisals because of activities they undertook and/or were involved in within the human rights field in the first months of 2022.

Within this scope, between 1 January 2022 and 30 April 2022:

•1,374 individuals faced judicial harassment because of their activities in the human rights field.

•Criminal proceedings were initiated against 998 individuals on the grounds of their activities in the human rights field. Criminal proceedings against 218 individuals started between 1 January 2022 and 30 April 2022. While the criminal proceedings against 780 individuals were maintained, 23 individuals were sentenced to imprisonment and 82 individuals were acquitted. In total, 23 human rights defenders were sentenced to 1 aggravated life sentence and 211 years, 4 months, and 10 days in prison.

•While criminal investigations were launched into 367 individuals between 1 January 2022 and 30 April 2022, pending investigations into 9 were maintained during the same timeframe. Non-prosecution decisions were rendered for 4 individuals.

•321 individuals' right to liberty and security was violated on the grounds of their activities in the human rights field. 305 individuals were taken into custody within this context, while 16 others were detained.