Professor Şebnem Korur Fincancı, president of the Turkish Medical Associations (TTB), has been placed in pre-trial detention on accusations of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” for her statements on the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Kurdistan Region.

News Center - Yesterday, Professor Şebnem Korur Fincancı, president of the Turkish Medical Associations (TTB), were sent to the Sincan Women’s Closed Prison by a court in Ankara on accusations of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” for her statements on the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Kurdistan Region. In her statements, she called for an independent investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Kurdistan Region.

“I am a forensic expert”

Şebnem Korur Fincancı was detained on October 26 in a raid on her home in Istanbul. Before her detention, she was invited to a TV program to comment on the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Kurdistan Region. Speaking about the program, she said, “I was invited to the TV program because I am a forensic expert. At first, I did not realize that the name of the TTB was written during the program. When I realized that I said, “As a forensic expert’ and what I said was my thoughts not the TTB.”

After her detention, a lawsuit was filed against Şebnem Korur Fincancı. The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office demanded the dismissal of Şebnem and board members of the TTB.

She focused on torture cases

Who is Şebnem Korur Fincancı? Who is she targeted?  What has she done until now?

Şebnem Korur Fincancı graduated from the Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine at Istanbul University in 1983 and finalized her specialization training at the Forensic Medical Institute in 1987. She received her associate professorship at Istanbul University in 1990, her professorship in 1996, and was promoted to the head of the department in 1997. In 1999, she established the first forensic medical outpatient clinic in Turkey.

International works

In 2014, she was dismissed from her post and she was reinstated in 2015 by the decision of an Administrative Court and the Council of Higher Education (Turkish: Yükseköğretim Kurulu -YÖK). She participated in many international works. She investigated mass graves in Bosnia on behalf of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal. She began her work with PHR in 1996 and took part in a program started by the organization in South Africa. She has worked with the World Health Organization on the Sexual Violence against Women Handbook and has investigated deaths in detention in Bahrain, Israel and the Philippines while elaborated medico-legal reports for torture survivors in several countries.

Dozens of investigations launched against her

For her support for human rights and academic freedom, dozens of investigations were launched against her. She was arrested in 2016 and charged with making terrorist propaganda for her participation in a campaign supporting freedom of the press. She was released 10 days later and acquitted in July 2019 after a campaign by several Turkish and international human rights organizations, including PHR.

She was also investigated for having signed the petition ‘We are not a party to this crime by the Academics for Peace’ in 2016. In December 2018, she was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for having signed the petition, but she appealed the verdict. Then, she was acquitted of all accusations.

She is one of Turkey’s leading human rights activists and an internationally-recognized forensic expert and one of the authors of the Istanbul Protocol, the international standard for forensic investigation and documentation of torture.