42 Europe and Central Asia Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns in the Region, January – June 2007 motivation” and he “had always strived for equal treatment for everybody.” Forced (update sterilization of women to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007) On January 17, the High Court in Olomouc issued a ground-breaking verdict in the case of the illegal sterilization of Helena Ferenčíková in 2001, requiring the hospital which performed the sterilization to apologize. The verdict upheld that of the Ostrava Regional Court in November 2005, but the court did not award Helena Ferenčíková the compensation of 1 million Czech koruna (approximately 35,400 euros) she sought for physical and psychological damages. In a letter dated February 27, the Vítkovice Hospital apologized to Helena Ferenčíková for its “encroachment on … [her] right to protection of personality.” In its review (see above) the CERD also raised concerns about women, a high proportion of them Romani, who had been subjected to coerced sterilization. It was also concerned that the Czech Republic had not taken sufficient action to abide by its positive obligation to impede the illegal performance of such operations by doctors after 1991, and that sterilizations without the prior informed consent of women were reported to have been carried out as late as 2004. On 20 February, a working group of Romani women at the Government Council for Romani Issues proposed establishing a fund from which the victims of involuntary sterilization would be compensated. The working group also noted that the victims should be entitled to an apology. Fair trial concerns and allegations of torture and ill-treatment Case of Yekta Uzunoglu On 28 March, AI wrote to the authorities expressing its concerns about the alleged denial of a fair trial on the case of the Amnesty International German citizen Yekta Uzunoglu who was arrested in 1994 (see AI Index: EUR 71/001/2007). Yekta Uzunoglu, who is of Kurdish origin, also alleged that he had been subjected to torture and ill-treatment. According to information received by AI, Yekta Uzunoglu was arrested outside his flat in Prague on 13 September 1994 and charged with a range of offences, including torture, limitation of personal freedom, conspiracy to murder, robbery, fraud, and possessing arms without a licence. The arrest was based on testimony received from a Turkish citizen, Göksel Otan, who had been living in the Czech Republic under the alias of Gurkan Gönen and reportedly working as a police agent. Göksel Otan accused Yekta Uzunoglu of abducting and torturing him. However, in statements given by Yekta Uzunoglu to his lawyer at the time, several witnesses -representatives of the pharmaceutical company Boots and of a Turkish cosmetic company, as well as several Czech individuals -- said that Yekta Uzunoglu had been with them at the time the act of torture on Göksel Otan was alleged to have taken place. Yekta Uzunoglu alleged that shortly after his arrest and while being held in custody he was subjected to “physical torture, torment and psychological terror.” In 1996 the then Minister of Interior, Jan Ruml, is said to have admitted that Yekta Uzunoglu had been abused by the police. Yekta Uzunoglu appealed a judgment decision from September 2003 to close down his case, on the grounds that he wished to assert his right to have a court acquit him of the charges of torture and limitation of personal freedom. The main court hearing on this appeal began on 25 June 2004. However, the hearing was considerably delayed because Göksel Otan had not appeared in court on numerous occasions and the police had failed to secure his presence in court. On 24 August 2006 Göksel Otan retracted his original testimony, repeatedly declaring that Yekta Uzunoglu “did not torture him, nor was he able to torture him, because he was not present during the act of torture”. AI Index: EUR 01/010/2007