In an interim resolution adopted on 10 June, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers “strongly urged” the Turkish authorities to comply with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and to amend existing legislation to clarify that the exercise of the right to freedom of expression does not constitute a crime.
The appeal is part of a review of the execution of a series of judgments relating to freedom of expression in Turkey, including the pre-trial detention of journalists without relevant and sufficient grounds and criminal convictions for insulting public institutions, including the President.
In addition to the amendment of the Penal Code, the Committee of Ministers calls for the amendment of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
It also requests that Turkish authorities provide statistical information on the number of prosecutions and convictions for these offences over the last 5 years, as well as the number of journalists prosecuted, convicted and detained.
The review of these cases will resume no later than March 2022.
Link to the interim resolution: https://bit.ly/3czocpg (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)