Istanbul’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has completed its "Ailem Güvende" (My Family Is Safe) investigations into a number of associations working on LGBTI+ rights, filing six separate indictments against 21 people and asking courts to dissolve six associations, İhlas News Agency (İHA) and Cumhuriyet reported on Friday.
Charges and sentences sought
According to both reports, the 21 suspects are founders, members and managers of the associations, and eight of them are currently in pretrial detention. They are charged with violating Türkiye’s Associations Law, and prosecutors are seeking prison sentences of one to three years for each defendant.
The indictments ask for the dissolution of six associations: Pozitif-iz, Pozitif Yaşam, LİSTAG, HEVİ LGBTİ, SPoD and LAMBDA.
The indictments set out the prosecution’s charges and requests; the reports did not say whether a court has yet accepted them.
Prosecutors’ case
The prosecution alleges that some of the associations’ activities aimed at children were unlawful and that the groups went beyond the purposes for which they were founded, the reports said.
Both reports said the indictments state that the investigation does not target the suspects’ identities, sexual orientation or the rights they advocate, but individual responsibility for specific activities carried out within the associations.
The indictments also list foreign funding received by the associations, including money from foreign government bodies and private foundations, and say these funds should be examined further, according to the reports.
Sources
- İstanbul savcılığı Ailem Güvende’de 21 kişiye hapis, 6 derneğe fesih talep etti (Son Dakika / İHA)
- ‘Ailem Güvende’ soruşturmaları iddianame hazırlandı: 21 kişiye hapis, 6 derneğe kapatma istemi (Cumhuriyet)
Photo: Kadı / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
