Turkey: Drop Charges Against Transgender Rights Defenders
Five Activists Assaulted by Police, then Charged With Resisting Arrest
October 18, 2010
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/10/17/turkey-drop-charges-against-transgender-rights-defendersProsecutors should investigate the attacks against five transgender rights activists by police in Ankara and drop all charges against the activists, five human rights organizations said today. In a letter to Turkey's Interior and Justice ministers, the rights organizations said that the police officers responsible for the attack should be held accountable and called for an end to violence against toward transgender people.
The five activists from the Ankara-based transgender rights organization Pembe Hayat were arbitrarily detained and beaten by police officers on May 17, 2010. Following a familiar pattern in Turkey, the five were speedily charged with resisting the police, before the prosecutor had concluded an investigation into their complaint of ill-treatment. Their trial is set for October 21. If convicted, they face up to three years in prison.
