A member judge put an opposition annotation to the verdict of conviction issued against Peace Petition signatory academic Assoc. Prof. Candan Badem and indicated that the academic’s action was within freedom of expression and that the right is protected by Article 26 of the Constitution as well as Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The judge further indicated that this right is one of the basic rights that is intervened and restricted the most within the fight against terrorism. “In order for a propaganda for terrorist organization to be posed, the organization’s methods involving violence and threat have to be legitimized, praised or encouraged. Freedom of expression is not only for information and ideas that are welcomed, which can be ignored by many due to being harmless and insignificant, but it must also be applied for attacking, shocking, disturbing or discriminative ideas as a requirement of the plurality, tolerance and the nature of open-mindedness shaping a democratic society,” the judge stated.
01.04.2019
bianet.org