35th Heavy Penal Court Combines Cases of Academics

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Second hearings of 10 academics, who have been charged with "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" for having signed the declaration entitled "We will not be a party to this crime" prepared by the Academics for Peace, were held at 35th Heavy Penal Court in İstanbul Courthouse today (April 12).

Second hearings of O.K., T.A., B.D, D.D., H.Y., Ö.A from Galatasaray University, Gizem Bilgin, Alaeddin Dinç Alada, Mehtap Balık Kaya and Pedriye Mutlu from İstanbul University were held.

Stating that he considers combining the cases in his own court, the 35th Heavy Penal Court chief judge combined the 10 cases heard today. The next hearing will be held on October 18.

Except one academic from Galatasaray University who submitted excuse and didn’t attend the hearing, the nine nice academics made their statement of defense. The academics rejected the charges and demanded their acquittal.

The hearings against signatory academics started on December 5, 2017. As of April 12, 187 academics had their first hearings. 12 of these academics were sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison and all of the sentences were suspended, except for that of Prof. Dr. Zübeyde Füsun Üstel.

What happened?

On January 10, 2016, 1,128 academics published a declaration entitled "We will not be party to this crime" on behalf of the Academics for Peace initiative.

On March 10, 2016, Asst. Prof. Dr. Esra Mungan, Asst. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Kaya, Assoc. Prof. Dr Kıvanç Ersoy and Asst. Prof. Dr. Meral Camcı read out the press statement at a press conference that was was held on behalf of the Academics for Peace/Istanbul group regarding the developments which had occurred since the declaration was first shared with the public.

The first three of these academics were arrested on the charge of "terrorist propaganda" on March 15, 2016, and the last, Camcı, who was abroad at the time, was arrested on March 31 when she returned to Turkey. The four academics were released on April 22, 2016 upon their first hearing, in which the prosecutor of the trial changed the charges pressed against the academics to the crimes regulated under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (insulting Turkey, the Turkish nation, or Turkish government institutions) and applied for authorization from the Ministry of Justice to hold the trial under the new article.

Another bill of indictment was prepared in October 2017 regarding at least 148 academics who signed the declaration. The academics were charged with "terrorist organization propaganda" under Article 7/2 of the Turkish Anti-Terror Act (#3713) in the bill of indictment prepared by Prosecutor İsmet Bozkurt. The first hearings were held on December 5, 2017.

As of April 12, 187 academics had their first hearings. 12 of these academics were sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison and all of the sentences were suspended, except for that of Prof. Dr. Zübeyde Füsun Üstel. (BK/TK)