Hearing on 204th Day Of Hunger Strike: No Release for Gülmen, Özakça
* Illustration: Zeynep Özatalay
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The second hearing in the trial of academic Nuriye Gülmen and teacher Semih Özakça, who have been continuing their hunger strike for 204 days in detention on remand, and for teacher Acun Karadağ, who was also discharged from his position through a statutory decree, was held today (September 28) before the courtroom at Sincan Prison Campus. Court ruled that Gülmen and Özakça remain in detention on remand.
The next hearing will be on October 20, at 10 a.m.
Gülmen and Özakça had not been brought to court on the first hearing before Ankara 19th Heavy Criminal Court on September 14 on the grounds of "security, insufficient personnel, health conditions and the risk of someone letting them escape".
In today's hearing, Özakça was brought to the courtroom in a wheelchair while Gülmen, who was forcibly brought to the intensive care unit although she was in a conscious state on September 26, two days before the hearing, was not brought to the courtroom at all. Teacher Acun Karadağ appeared before court.
While Özakça did make his statement of defence in today's hearing, Acun Karadağ refused to do so and said that this trial actually targeted the hunger strike and that he would not defend himself until Gülmen was also able to defend herself.
Özakça, Gülmenn and Karadağ are being charged with "being a member of an armed terror organization", "opposing to Law on Demonstrations and Rallies", and "propagandizing for a terrorist organization".
Restriction of only 30 people in the courtroom
* Illustraition: Zeynep Özatalay
The number of attendants was limited to 30 people for a courtroom with a capacity of 80 people.
Gülmen attending the hearing was found "medically objectionable"
Nuriye Gülmen, who had been kept in Sincan Prison Campus State Hospital since July 8, 2017 that is located outside of Ankara and was from there to the intensive care unit in Numune Hospital in Ankara although she was in a conscious state, is still being kept there and was not brought to the courtroom today.
The court had ordered both Gülmen and Özakça to attend the hearing initially but after she was taken to the intensive care unit in Numune Hospital, the doctors in this hospital required her to have a blood test first.
According to the Progressive Journalists Association (ÇGD), the Ankara Numune Hospital, responding to the motion to bring Gülmen to the hearing, stated that "bringing the suspect to the courtroom is medically objectionable".
Restriction of three attorneys
The Court ordered that the defendants Acun Karadağ and Semih Özakça choose three attorneys each.
18 attorneys of Gülmen and Özakça were taken into custody just two days before the first hearing on September 14, and 14 of them were arrested later.
In the first hearing, 1,030 attorneys attested a power of attorney to the court and approximately 200 attorneys observed the hearing.
Özakça: "We did not choose to starve"
* Illustraition: Zeynep Özatalay
Özakça in his statement of defence said:
"This resistance is not the resistance of two. This is the resistance of the oppressed peoples. Their problem was that the hunger strike was considered an effective way of protest, it would be embraced by the people and it would grow.
"We did not choose to starve. If the political authority gave us our jobs back, we would not have to starve. It the political authority itself who has started the resistance and also has been trying to suppress it. I will continue my hunger strike until we get our jobs back.
"Chants of slogans...So Nuriye is still conscious"
* Illustration: Zeynep Özatalay
"A forced intervention is leaving someone disabled, it making a human being a living dead. The sounds of screams and protest slogans were heard as they were taking Nuriye forcibly to the Numune Hospital. Noises of slogans...So she is still conscious".
"They took Nuriye to Numune Hospital so that they would not have to bring her to the hearing. Forced intervention is a crime against humanity.
Karadağ: I won't defend myself until Nuriye can also make her statement of defence
* Illustration: Zeynep Özatalay
Acun Karadağ said that he would not make his statement of defence but noted that he still had some things to say.
"When I saw Semih, I could not hold back my tears, I can't think of such a cruelty. [...] This trial targets the hunger strike. The educators have been starving for 204 days, they have taken Nuriye to intensive care just so they would not have to bring her here. I will not defend myself before she is also able to defend herself.
About Gülmen and ÖzakçaNuriye Gülmen was employed at Eskişehir Osmangazi University. After her contract was not renewed, she brought a lawsuit and won. Seven months later, she started to work at Selçuk University. A day after she started her job, she was suspended from her duty based on the "FETÖ-PDY (Fethullahist Terror Organization-Parallel State Structure) investigation launched into her. She was discharged on January 6, 2017 via the Statutory Decree No. 679. Semih Özakça was a classroom teacher at Mazıdağı Cumhuriyet Primary School in Mardin. He was discharged via the Statutory Decree No. 675 over "being linked with terror organizations". Gülmen has been in front of Human Rights Monument on Yüksel Street in the heart of Turkey's capital city of Ankara to stage a sit-in since November 9, 2016 and Özakça since November 23, 2016. Acun Karadağ was discharged from his job on September 29, 2016 through the Statutory Decree No. 675. He has been taken into custody several times during his protest with the slogan "I want my students" held in front of his old school. He later joined the protesters in Yüksel Street who had also been discharged through statutory decrees under the State of Emergency. On hunger strike since March 9, 2017On March 9, Gülmen and Özakça were taken into custody and went on a permanent non—rotational hunger strike in detention. During their resistance protest that they started in front of Human Rights Monument on Yüksel Street in Ankara, they have been detained and released several times. On May 22, they were detained for the last time and arrested on the next day. They have been continuing their hunger strike in prison since their arrest on May 23. On July 8, 2017, they were transferred to Sincan Prison Campus State Hospital that is located outside of Ankara after spending 46 days behind bars where they continued their hunger strike. On September 15, the first hearing was held without the presence of the defendants as the gendarmerie refused to bring them to the court due to "health and security reasons". The court ruled that Gülmen and Özakça remain further in detention on remand. On September 26, Gülmen was taken from Sincan Prison Campus Hospital on the 202th day of her hunger strike and was brought to intensive care unit at the Numune Hospital located at a central part of Ankara. On September 28, second hearing of the trial was held. Gülmen was kept in intenstive care and was not brought to trial. Court ruled that Gülmen and Özakça remain in detention on remand. The next hearing will be on October 20. |
(BK/DG)