Time in Yerevan: 11:07,   19 March 2024

Turkey jails reportedly ethnic Armenian woman for social media post

Turkey jails reportedly ethnic Armenian woman for social media post

YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. A Turkish court has remanded Rozerin Zeri, a human rights activist, in pretrial detention due to her social media posts deemed to be “propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization”, the Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) - an advocacy organization that promotes the rule of law, democracy, fundamental rights and freedoms – reported May 20.

According to SCF, the woman is of Armenian background. The only fact backing SCF’s claim on Zeri’s Armenian background is a Facebook account with the same name where the user’s country of origin is mention as Armenia. It is unclear if the account is real and the credibility of the Armenian background claim is uncertain.

According to a tweet posted by Acun Karadağ, a history teacher who was fired with a government decree issued by the Turkish government in the aftermath of the coup attempt on July 15, 2016, Zeri was put behind bars late on Saturday because of Facebook posts that are critical of the Turkish government. “Rozerin Zeri. She was arrested today due to her social media posts. She is the mother of a sick child. What kind of crime could she commit with a single tweet? She is innocent. What’s with the hurry? What are you trying to do? Enough is enough!” Karadağ tweeted.

Turkey has launched thousands of investigations into social media users based on simple criticizing statements which the government deems to be insults. A total of 1,080 people were convicted of insulting Erdoğan in 2016, according to data from Turkey’s Justice Ministry. Data also showed that 4,936 cases were launched against people on charges of insult in 2016.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan








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