MEMBERS OF the European Parliament yesterday called for the immediate release of Cypriot former Finance Minister Michalis Sarris and six others, in the north under antiquated homosexual laws.
In a signed statement several MEPs said the laws were a breach of the binding European Convention on Human Rights and international laws on the right to privacy.
At the same time the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe) sent a letter to Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu to demand the immediate end to arbitrary detention and prosecution of men suspected of having engaged in consensual adult same-sex sexual activity.
ILGA-Europe said it had already expressed its concern and similar demands on numerous occasions with regard to the ‘TRNC’ criminal code, which contains the only article in European national law that still criminalises consensual adult male same-sex sexual activity.
The issue was also raised last December at a meeting between ILGA and the Turkish Cypriot ‘parliament speaker’, during which ILGA said it was informed that Article 171 was no longer enforced even though it had not yet been officially removed from the statutes. It would be done in the near future, however, he promised.
“In spite of this promise, and in spite of the fact that this Article is in direct breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights as indicated in the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights and Article 17 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus has continued to arbitrarily arrest and prosecute men who are suspected of having engaged in consensual adult same-sex sexual activity,” the ILGA letter said.
It said that on July 20 this year, two men were taken in custody and brought to court on an accusation of “unnatural intercourse?. It then referred to the arrest last week of Sarris and two other men in the north.
ILGA said the reports it received seemed to indicate that the three men were arrested on three counts: suspicion of prostitution; supposedly having breached Article 171 of the Criminal Code, and conspiracy to commit a felony.”
“Contrary to these claims, however, it appears that the police do not have any evidence of any sexual relations between the men,” said ILGA.
“Moreover, the legislation of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus does not prohibit prostitution and beyond the definition of a minor as a person below the age of thirteen does not contain any other reference to the minimum age of consent for male sexual relations. Give these facts, the accusations of the police are unfounded and the continuation of the prosecution against the men is both arbitrary and illegal.”
It added that a day after the arrests – on October 15 – further arrests were carried out bringing the number of men currently in custody charged for breaching Article 171 up to seven.
“To add insult to injury, the reports that have reached ILGA-Europe seems to indicate that these men have been severely ill treated while under police custody, and their dignity was breached when the men were made to undergo anal examinations in a hospital to prove that Article 171 has been breached,” said ILGA.
“In spite of the fact that the medical reports issued by the doctors did not show any signs of anal penetration, the men were arbitrarily retained in police custody.”
It also slammed the fact that after Tuesday’s hearing, the men were all kept for another two days.
ILGA calls on Eroglu to uphold international human rights law by freeing the seven men, and instantly declaring Article 171 unconstitutional “and proceed to remove it from the statues immediately”
“We also call upon you to investigate claims of the men?s ill treatment while under police custody,” it said.
