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ECtHR rules Turkey violated Kurdish musician’s rights in Erdoğan insult case

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The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that Turkey violated Kurdish musician Hozan Canê’s right to freedom of expression, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported, citing the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA).

In its October 7 decision, the ECtHR’s Second Chamber grouped Canê’s case with three others under the “Erdoğan and Others v. Turkey” ruling, finding that Turkey violated the applicants’ freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and ordering compensation.

Canê, also known as Saide İnanç, was sentenced to one year, five months in prison in 2019 by the Edirne 6th Criminal Court of First Instance for allegedly insulting Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan through a caricature shared on her Facebook page. The local court suspended her sentence, placing Canê under a five-year probation period.

The MLSA, which represented Canê, argued that the suspended sentence effectively acted as censorship. When Turkey’s Constitutional Court dismissed the appeal as “unfounded,” the defense team took the case to the ECtHR, arguing that the suspended sentence violated Canê’s right to freedom of expression.

“This ruling is important for two main reasons. First, it affirms that harsh and provocative criticisms of President Erdoğan fall within the scope of freedom of expression,” said Veysel Ok, co-director of the MLSA.

“Second, the court found that the practice of suspending verdicts for five years effectively acts as a form of censorship, violating Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights,” he added.

The ECtHR specifically addressed suspended sentences, stating that this legal measure does not offer adequate protection against arbitrary interference with rights guaranteed by the European convention. The court concluded that suspended sentences represented an unlawful restriction on freedom of expression.

Ok emphasized that the ruling sets an important precedent by recognizing that the suspended verdict system can function as a form of censorship. “The decision shows that five-year suspended sentence is not just a legal formality but a way to pressure individuals into self-censorship,” he said.

Canê, was previously detained on June 21, 2018 and arrested by a court six days later on charges that included membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and insulting President Erdoğan and Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey.

İnanç said that after she was detained, the police officers made her undress and told her to sign a document, saying she would be released if she did. After she refused, the officers made her wait two hours with her hands cuffed behind her back. They then took her from İstanbul to Edirne early the next day and kept her in a small, dirty cell.

According to the singer, she became ill from food given to her by the counterterrorism police on the second day of her custody. She was taken to a hospital, where her stomach was pumped. When she was transferred to Edirne Prison, she was strip-searched by seven guards. Then, one of the guards searched a body cavity supposedly for heroin.

She was acquitted on incitement and insulting the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk but was sentenced to six years, three months in prison, convicting her of PKK membership.

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