Turkey is putting 18 students and an academic on trial this week for organizing a peaceful Pride that police broke up with tear gas and plastic bullets.
The 19 people held the event on 10 May 2019 and authorities charged them in August 2019. But the courts have delayed the trial several times under international pressure.
Now they have a new court date of 10 December – which also happens to be International Human Rights Day. The defendants say the event at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey’s capital, happened after authorities lifted a ban on Prides.
Despite this, they say 50 police broke up the event and even fired tear gas and plastic bullets. They have charged the 19 human rights defenders with ‘participating in