Aytül Uçar, who has been working at the İzmir Representative Office of Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) for 23 years, was detained on February 3rd, 2021, during the protest of the President’s designation of the Boğaziçi University rector. Two separate lawsuits were filed against Uçar for “Insulting the President” and “opposition to the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations”. Aytül Uçar is currently awaiting trial.
Aytül Uçar is a civil society professional and has been a rights defender since her youth. She was born on May 1st, 1974, in Elazığ and moved to İzmir with her family when she was four. She comes from a Kurdish-Alevi family from Dersim. She received her upper education in social services.
She joined the Women’s Committee of the Izmir branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD) after graduating from high school in 1992.The assassination of Musa Anter that same year was a turning point for Uçar. She sees the Sivas Massacre of 1993 as another turning/transformation point for her.
Besides the Human Rights Association, Uçar has also worked for the Pir Sultan Abdal Foundation. She worked for the Izmir branch of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers for two years. Since 1999, she has been working as the medical secretary for the Izmir branch of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV).
Detained at Boğaziçi University protest
On February 3rd, 2021, Aytül Uçar was amongst the detainees of the police intervention during the press statement in Izmir protesting the President’s designation of the Boğaziçi University rector. Following her detention, she was served with two separate lawsuits one year apart.
Case filed on complaint of police officers in detention vehicle
Uçar, along with two others (Emine Akbaba and İrem Çelikbaş), was initially sued for the allegation of “defaming the President” at the 41st Criminal Court of First Instance of Izmir. The indictment offered as evidence the testimonies of the deputy police chief and a police officer that were present at the vehicle holding the detainees.The first session of the trial that was to take place on November 18th, 2021 was postponed because the presiding judge was on leave.
The fourth hearing of the lawsuit, which was filed with the allegation of insulting the President, was held on September 2nd, 2022. It was noteworthy that the police affiliated to the İzmir Police Department Security Branch also watched the hearing. The court board demanded that a warrant be written to the Izmir Police Department so that one of the witness policemen would be present at the next hearing, and to ask whether there was a camera recording of the day of the incident.
On 9th December, the prosecutor read his final opinion. The prosecutor demanded separate sentences for Aytül Uçar in accordance with the charge of ‘insulting the President’ as regulated under Article 299/1-2 of the Turkish Penal Code. The court accepted the request for additional time against the final opinion and adjourned the next hearing to December 30th, 2022.
In the final hearing, the court acquitted Aytül Uçar, sentenced Emine Akbaba and İrem Çelikbaş to 1 year and 2 months for ‘insulting the President’, reduced the sentence to 11 months and 20 days and postponed it.
In the second lawsuit filed against Aytül Uçar after she was detained during the Boğaziçi University protest, the prosecutor charged her with 'opposing the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations'. In the indictment, Uçar was charged with ‘insult’, ‘opposition to the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations’ and ‘prevention of public duty’. The indictment, accepted by the Izmir 49th Criminal Court of First Instance on February 14th, 2022, also included the testimonies of eight police officers. The police officer plaintiffs claimed to have been battered and injured by the six people including Uçar.The first hearing of the case was held on April 15th, 2022. Aytül Uçar identified the police officer who tortured her in the detention vehicle in the audience section of the courtroom. Following Uçar's statement, the lawyers demanded that the police officer be identified and removed from the hall. However, this request of the lawyers was denied. After the statements were taken, the case was adjourned to June 24th, 2022.
On the other hand, Aytül Uçar described the events of that day as follows: “There was one lawyer present in the detainee vehicle when I was brought there and another lawyer was brought while I was there. Both of them were detained as they were pleading to the officers to show mercy on the other detainees. As the detainees were being battered and handcuffed from the rear, we naturally demanded that the police treat them humanely and follow Covid pandemic protocols. Then they threatened to handcuff all of us from the rear. The circumstances that were already tense kept getting worse due to the agitation from the police. It was impossible for us to be silent in that vehicle in the light of all that we had been taught by our struggle against torture and our knowledge of how to treat and document torture victims. As I was there, I simultaneously “observed” all that was happening as a person that had not only witnessed but also contributed to reporting, photographing, archiving, and preparing statistics of such misconduct. It was an unfortunate but valuable observation, although I wish never to have witnessed it. The harsh police intervention I saw that day should never have been experienced by anyone on those vehicles.”
The fourth hearing of the lawsuit was held on January 13th, 2023. Witnesses described police brutality. The case was adjourned to May 12th, 2023, to hear other witnesses.
The final hearing of the case was held on October 11th, 2023. The court acquitted Aytül Uçar and lawyer Erdoğan Akdoğdu on all charges but sentenced the other rights defenders to varying degrees of imprisonment for ‘opposing the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations’ and ‘resisting to prevent the execution of duty’. The court also ruled to defer the announcement of the verdict for some defendants.
The final hearing of the case was held on October 11th, 2023. The court acquitted Aytül Uçar and lawyer Erdoğan Akdoğdu of all charges but sentenced other rights defenders to varying degrees of imprisonment for ‘opposition to the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations’ and ‘prevention of public duty’.. The court also ruled to postpone the announcement of the verdict for some defendants.
A total of 104 people were detained at the demonstrations held in Izmir on the 1st, 3rd and 5th of February, and many of them have filed complaints at the Human Rights Foundation for being subjected to torture and mistreatment during their detention.
