An Ankara court has ruled that Şebnem Korur Fincancı, a prominent expert in forensic medicine and human rights activist, pay 50,000 lira ($1,460) in non-pecuniary damages to the Turkish Defense Ministry for calling for an investigation in 2022 into the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Turkish army against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, Turkish Minute reported, citing the private DHA news agency.
The Defense Ministry filed criminal charges and a lawsuit against Fincancı, 65, due to her comments on a video purporting to show the Turkish military’s use of chemical weapons against militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.
She suggested that a toxic gas may have been released but also called for an “effective investigation.”
Turkey strongly rejected the allegations, and Fincancı faced a backlash from government and nationalist circles and was accused of giving credit to claims made by the PKK and defaming the Turkish military.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
She was arrested and put in pre-trial detention in October 2022 as part of the investigation into her, which ended with the filing of criminal charges.
In January 2023 the doctor was handed down a suspended sentence of almost three years on charges of “disseminating terrorist propaganda” and was released from pretrial detention after two months behind bars.
Fincancı was head of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) at the time.
Before the Ankara court announced its Thursday verdict on Fincancı, who frequently appears in court due to her professional and human rights work, Milena Büyüm, Amnesty International’s Turkey campaigner, posted a video of Fincancı on her X account.
In the video Fincancı said the launch of criminal cases or lawsuits against people like her for expressing their expert opinion discourages them from voicing their concerns in similar situations.
She also said the 100,000 lira, the amount of damages demanded by the Turkish military, was more than twice her monthly salary as a medical doctor.
Fincancı will be able to appeal the court’s decision.
The conviction of Fincancı for expressing her professional opinion attracted international condemnation at the time. Her trial was followed by European observers.
The World Medical Association described the case against Fincancı as “unfounded, unlawful and unacceptable,” while the Dublin-based Front Line Defenders rights group described the ruling as “unjust” and that it “must be overturned on appeal.”
