(With thanks to Gabriel Rosenstock for directing us to this piece)
Statement from PEN Turkey https://www.pen.org.tr/ 27/04/2022
GEZİ IS OUR FREEDONM OF THOUGHT AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSİON
We are addressing not to those without conscience, but to those with conscience.
We are addressing not to despots, but to democrats.
not to the lawless but to those who respect law.
not to obeyers of despotism but to citizens.
We are addressing not those who keep acting against the Constitution,
but to those who take the definition in our constitution seriously:
‘The Republic of Turkey is a secular democratic social state based on human rights.’
The Gezi Park Protests in 2013 were peaceful and constitutional reactions of environmentalist citizens who demanded democracy and human rights. They were our reactions. Gezi is us. Gezi is hope. Gezi is solidarity. Gezi is freedom of thought and expression. Gezi is the right to choose your life style. Gezi is the possibility of co-habitation of differences. Gezi is our richness. Gezi is well and alive, because our demand for democracy and law is well and alive.
We stand by all our friends convicted in the Gezi Protests. Life long sentence and 18 years of imprisonment, is the result due to the lack of independent justice and lack of division of powers. It is yet another slur on jurisprudence in our country at this stage.
Totally ignoring the numerous vitally serious issues we face in our country, totally disregarding human rights, laws & justice, these sentences are handed down in acts of plain vengeance about a civil resistance movement which took place ten years ago & involved millions of people.
This is what We, as PEN Turkey would like to say on this subject:
We are calling to account all those who ignore our constitution; ignore independent justice; those who misuse their authority by cheating on every level; those who destroy our forests, rivers, lakes, shores, render our cities uninhabitable; those who thrive on tensions brought on by divisive acts, vengeance & strife. Those who incite atmospheres of tension & terror should be made well aware that “TOMORROW” and “HOPE” , “ JUSTİCE” and “DEMOCRACY” are not very far away for our beautiful country.
PEN TURKEY
To learn more about the defendants on Bianet: https://m.bianet.org/english/human-rights/261038-who-are-the-eight-convicts-of-the-gezi-trial#
At a recent “Dialogues on War” event organised by PEN International, in a conversation between Andreiy Kurkov and Philippe Sands, Kurkov was asked what people could do to support Ukrainian writers. “Read their books”, was his reply.
Sands’ own incredible, brilliant, East West Street, illuminates Ukraine’s extraordinary role in European history and international Human Rights law. Part memoir, part family history, part legal analysis, the book reads like a thriller.
Here is a link to a list of recommended titles by Ukrainian and non-Ukrainian authors, put together by PEN International. The list was edited by Diana Delyurman, Iryna Rodina and Myroslava Mokhnatska.
And here’s a selection from that list, with additions from people who were on that and later calls:
Applebaum, Anne Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine (History)
Hnatiuk Ola Courage and Fear (History: Lviv during WWII)
Kurkov, Andreiy Grey Bees (novel; currently on the Dublin Literature Award 2022 longlist)
Kurkov, Andreiy Jimi Hendrix Live in Lemberg (Lviv)
Marynovych Myroslav The Universe Behind Barbed Wire: Memoirs of a Ukrainian Soviet Dissident
Plokhy Serhii The Gates of Europe (Historical study of Ukrainian identity and sovereignty)
Sands Philippe East West Street (History, Memoir, Family History, Human Rights Law)
Shevchenko Taras (Poetry)
Snyder Timothy Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning (Non Fiction: History)
Zabuzhko Oksana Selected Poems (Poetry)
Zabuzhko Oksana “One Hundred Years of Solitude, or the Importance of a Story”(Essay: https://agnionline.bu.edu/essay/one-hundred-years-of-solitude-or-the-importance-of-a-story/ )
Zhadan Serhiy What We Live For, What We Die For: Selected Poems (poetry)
26th March 2022 @6:00 pm, as part of the Imagine Belfast festival, Irish PEN hosts Paola Ugaz, Dan Collyns, Patricia Devlin and Kathryn Johnston in conversation with Catherine Dunne and Maria MacManus.
This event organised by Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann will profile two journalists under threat in Peru. Following an interview with Paola Ugaz and Dan Collyns, there will be a discussion with Northern Ireland journalists Patricia Devlin and
Paola Ugaz, recipient of a Courage in Journalism Award 2021, (International Women’s Media Foundation), is an investigative journalist who continues to display extraordinary courage in exposing the abuse and corruption within the powerful religious organisation, Sodalitium. Paola Ugaz is the winner of Women’s Media Foundation Writers of Courage Award:
Dan Collyns, a multimedia journalist and filmmaker, covers the Andean region for The Guardian newspaper, CGTN America television and the BBC. A recent project is the film The Adventures Of Wonder Woman, a documentary investigation into illegal gold mining in Peru’s Amazon, made with colleagues for The Thomson Reuters Foundation.
View Dan Collyns’ movie here.
Kathryn Johnston: Director and DeputyEditor http://viewdigital.org/
Patricia Devlin: https://patriciadevlin.com/
Tomorrow (9th March 2022) 10am GMT: ‘Dialogues on War’ join the 4th live conversation on #Ukraine with Myroslav Marynovych, Vice Rector of Ukrainian Catholic University and Serhii Plokhii, Director of Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. JOIN: https://fb.me/e/n4rvCjWdU
PEN Ukraine together with PEN Belarus, Polish PEN Club and Open Culture Foundation is organizing a public fundraiser to support the creative community of Ukraine.
The funds will go to help Ukrainian writers, journalists, scholars, translators, and artists who have found themselves under threat as a result of the Russian war against Ukraine.
The funds will be used to alleviate the urgent needs of Ukrainian creatives, whose lives are now in direct danger:
– urgent evacuation and resettlement in the cities of Western Ukraine,
– urgent evacuation and resettlement in safe countries.
Culture is one of the chief bastions of Ukrainian freedom and we must ensure that members of the Ukrainian cultural community can continue to speak out loudly and without hindrance.
Support now: https://penbelarus.org/en/2022…
https://pen-international.org/news/nobel-laureates-writers-and-artists-worldwide-condemn-russias-invasion-of-ukraine
PEN International gathered more than 1000 signatures in 24 hours in support of the writers, artists, journalists and people of Ukraine
Paola Ugaz is a Peruvian investigative journalist, editor and writer. She is facing a campaign of harassment, threats, and defamation lawsuits, including allegations of crimes due to her investigations into corruption, as well as physical, psychological and sexual abuse within the Peruvian religious organization Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana, which she has conducted since 2010.
In February 2021, Ugaz was served a lawsuit that could land her in prison. Ugaz’s case is part of a sophisticated system in Peru where powerful groups use the courts as whips to silence journalists by fabricating criminal allegations against them.
PEN International considers that the charges, lawsuits, threats and ongoing harassment against Ugaz are violating her right to freedom of expression, as well as her civil and political rights. PEN calls on the Peruvian authorities to dismiss the lawsuits against her and to cease immediately the harassment Ugaz faces for her work as a journalist, editor and writer.
Please, send appeals to the Peruvian authorities:
Send appeals to:
President of the Republic of Peru
Sr. Pedro Castillo
Twitter: @MerinoDeLama @presidenciaperu
Address: Jr. de la Unión s / n 1st block
Cercado de Lima, Lima – Peru
Public Ministry Prosecutor’s Office of the Nation
Mrs. Zoraida Ávalos Rivera
Attorney of the Nation
Email zavalos@mpfn.gob.pe
Tel. +51 208 5555 (5202) – (5201)
Twitter @FiscaliaPeru
Address: Av. Abancay Cdra 5 (Headquarters in Lima) LIMA – Peru
Judiciary of Peru
Judge Elvia Barrios Alvarado
President of the Judiciary
Email: ebarrios@pj.gob.pe
Tel. (01) 4101010 Annex 11000
T. @Poder_Judicial_
Address Av. Paseo de la República S / N Palacio de Justicia, Cercado, Lima – Peru
Ombudsman
Walter Gutierrez Camacho
Ombudsman
Tel: 01-311 0300 – Annex 1202E
Email: defensor@defensoria.gob.pe
Address: Jirón Ucayali 394 – 398 Lima 1
Send copies to the Embassy of Peru in your own country. Embassy addresses may be found here: https://www.embassy-worldwide.com/country/peru/
Publicity:
We encourage PEN members to:
Please find some useful materials below, in English and Spanish:
A espaldas del Vaticano, el Sodalicio saca su dinero de Perú para no reparar a los sobrevivientes
El Vaticano espera las explicaciones del Sodalicio con el fin de garantizar las reparaciones
Please inform PEN International of any action you take or any response you get.
Background
In 2015, Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz published the book Mitad monjes, mitad soldados (Half Monks, Half Soldiers) (Planeta, 2015), which uncovered the biggest scandal within a Catholic organization in Peru. Ugaz began to receive complaints and lawsuits following the announcement she was publishing a new book (yet to be published) about the group’s financial management.
Ugaz faces at least five legal proceedings for the publication of her book and investigative journalism. In October 2020, she received a death threat on her Instagram account and a new hearing was held, in which the judge decided to open a judicial process against her. The trial stems from a complaint filed by Luciano Revoredo Rojas, a former congressional candidate and director of the conservative Catholic news and commentary website La Abeja, who accused Ugaz of aggravated defamation.
(See Action on Day of the Imprisoner Writer Campaign 2020 – Paola Ugaz)
Furthermore, in November 2020, Carlos Alberto Gomez de la Torre Pretell, a ‘Sodalicio’ employee, sued Ugaz for defamation following her participation in a 40-second statement, broadcast by Al Jazeera in a documentary titled “The Sodalitium Scandal.”
For a long time, Ugaz has been the target of a smear and disinformation campaign in relation to her work as a journalist where, without any evidence, she is linked to alleged criminal networks, money laundering, uranium and plutonium trading, among others. She is also the target of harassment, including the publication of private data about her children, who are minors, and about her colleague Pedro Salinas, co-author of the book.
Ugaz is currently facing defamation suits by Revoredo Rojas and Gómez de la Torre, and is being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office as the head of a money laundering network.
Paola Ugaz could face preventive detention, imprisonment or a ban on leaving her country.
For more information, please contact Alicia Quiñones, Americas Programme Coordinator, at PEN International, email: alicia.quinones@pen-international.org
Narges Mohammadi is an Iranian writer, journalist, human rights defender, and Honorary Member of Danish, Belgian, Norwegian, and Swedish PEN. She is the former Vice-President and spokesperson of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), which advocates for human rights reform and represents political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in legal proceedings. You can find more details about her case here.
In November 2021, Mohammadi was arrested yet again and is now facing 80 lashes. You can find more information about her current situation in PEN International’s latest statement on her case here
Our colleagues at PEN Norway are organising an online event on January 25 about Mohammadi, her current situation, and the treatment of political prisoners and activists in Iran, followed by screening her documentary film “White Torture.”
Please see PEN Norway’s program 25 January: https://www.facebook.com/events/358228265638858?ref=newsfeed
PROGRAMME
In the conversation:
– Taghi Rahmani, Narges Mohammadi’s husband, journalist, writer and activist
– Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner (2003), political activist, lawyer and a former judge
– Asieh Amini, journalist, poet and Board member of PEN Norway
– Benyamin Farnam, filmmaker and Communications Worker at PEN Norway
Moderator: Moloud Hajizadeh, journalist
The event will be in English and will be streamed on PEN Norway’s Facebook page.