35th Penal Court Accepts Demands That Files be Asked from 13th Penal Court

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Hearings about signatories of “We Will not be a Party to This Crime” declaration released by the Academics for Peace continued at 35th Heavy Penal Court at İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan today (January 18).

First hearings of 12 academics from Marmara University, İstanbul Technical University (ITÜ), Yıldız Technical University (YTU) and Özyeğin University were held.

The academics who stood trial today were Dr. Ali Serdar (Özyeğin University), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Serdar (ITU), Research Assistant Dr. Şükran Çavdar (ITÜ), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Leyla Şimşek Rathke (Marmara University) Prof. Dr. Günay Göksu Özdoğan (Marmara University), Lecturer Cansever Güner (Marmara University), Research Assistant Can Yalçın Armutçuoğlu (Marmara University), Didem Gürses (YTU), Research Assistant Burcu Yılmaz Gündüz (Marmara University), Lecturer Nergis Perçinel (ITÜ), Post-Graduate student Semih Savaşal (YTU), Dr. Ayşe Zeynep Akalın Özdemir (ITÜ).

According to the indictment prepared by Prosecutor İsmet Bozkurt, the academics are being charged with "Making Propaganda for a Terrorist Organisation", based on the Article 7/2 of the Turkish Anti-Terror Act and Article 53 of the Turkish Penal Code.

The hearings started on December 5. 77 people have had their first hearings so far.

1st hearing

Ayşe Zeynep Akalın stood ready in the courtroom.

Her lawyer stated that the statements of Peace Signatories İstanbul group and Bese Hozat were included in the indictment, and these shouldn’t be in the file. She demanded that it is inquired whether her client has signature in these declarations. She also said that the English translation of the declaration in the file is wrong and it has nothing to do with her client.

She requested that the case be combined with other cases that are filed on the same subject. Even though the expression “suspects” is included in the indictment, there is only one defendant and she asked for this to be fixed.

The prosecutor demanded that all demands be rejected.

The court committee rejected all demands by unanimous vote.

2nd hearing

Perçinel stood ready in the courtroom and read out her written statement of defense.

Perçinel’s lawyer demanded that the court ask for the file from the 13th Heavy Penal Court and make its decision about combining the cases after receiving the file.

The court ruled that the file be asked from the 13th Heavy Penal Court and it give its decision about combining cases after receiving the file. The next hearing is on June 28.

3rd hearing

Discharged from Marmara University, research assistant Gündüz stood ready in the hearing. She demanded her immediate acquittal.

Bahri Belen stated that they reiterate their demands from the previous hearing. The chief judge said that they made the same decision. The next hearing is on June 28.

4th hearing

Retired from the YTU, Gürses stood ready in the courtroom. Her lawyer demanded that the file be asked from the 13th Heavy Penal Court and extension of time for defense. The court decided to discuss the demand about asking the file from the 13th Heavy Penal Court later. The next hearing is on June 28.

5th hearing

Savaşal’s lawyer Meriç Eyüboğlu stated that her client continues his academic studies abroad and demanded his immediate acquittal. She shared some verdicts concerning freedom of expression from the ECtHR and local courts.

Eyüboğlu also demanded that the filed be combined with the filed at the 13th Heavy Penal Court.

The court rejected the acquittal demand and it decided to discuss the demand about asking the file from the 13th Heavy Penal Court later. The next hearing is on September 18.

6th hearing

Discharged from Marmara University, Armutçuoğlu stood ready in the courtroom. His lawyer Sevgi Epçeli Arslan demanded an extension of time since the indictment wasn’t served to her client.

Arslan demanded immediate acquittal of her client and the file be combined with the file at the 13th Heavy Penal Court.

The court rejected the acquittal demand and it decided to discuss the demand about asking the file from the 13th Heavy Penal Court later. The next hearing is on September 18.

7th hearing

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şimşek who worked as lecturer at Marmara University stood ready in the courtroom and asked for an extension of time for her defense. Her lawyers stated that they reiterate their previous demands. The court made the same decision. The next hearing is on June 28.

8th hearing

Retired from Marmara University, Prof. Dr. Özdoğan stood ready in the courtroom and read out her statement of defense.

Her lawyer Aynur Tuncel Yazgan demanded that the file be combined with the file at the 13th Heavy Penal Court. The court committee approved the request. The next hearing is on July 12

9th hearing

Şükran Çavdar from the ITU and her lawyer weren’t present in the courtroom. Her lawyer presented excuse, the court accepted the excuse.

10th hearing

Prof. Dr. Serdar from the ITU stood ready in the courtroom. Her lawyer Ali Soydan demanded that the file be combined with the file at the 13th Heavy Penal Court. The court committee approved the request. The next hearing is on July 12.

11th hearing

Dr. Serdar from Özyeğin University stood ready in the courtroom.

His lawyers demanded his immediate acquittal. If this demand is not accepted, then they demanded that the file be combined with the file at the 13th Heavy Penal Court. The court rejected the acquittal demand, ruled for an extension of time to be granted and for the file to be asked from the 13th Heavy Penal Court. The next hearing is on July 12.

12th hearing

Güner from Marmara University wasn’t present in the courtroom. The information that she moved to another city was submitted to the court.

What happened?

On January 10, 2016, the Peace Declaration of the Academics "We will not be a party to this crime" was shared with the public in a press conference. 1,128 academics from 89 universities as well as over 355 academics and researchers from abroad had signed the peace declaration.

On January 12, 2016, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referring to the academics signing peace declaration, said: "A group of people calling themselves academics appears and talks against their state which defends their land against acts of terror organizations. [...] You so-called intellectuals, you are all dark and ignorant".

Following Erdoğan's statement, more academics signed the declaration to support their colleagues and including the second wave of signatures, the number of academics signing the peace declaration reached 2,212.

In many where these academics had a position, they had been targetted, their office doors were marked and they began to receive messages of threat.
As of January 15, 2016, police began raiding the houses of the academics and taking them into custody. Some have been suspended from their positions and others were subjected to administrative or legal investigations.

On March 10, 2016, a press conference was held on behalf of the Academics for Peace/İstanbul group regarding the developments which had occurred since the declaration was shared with the public. 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 saying that the prosecutor's office took action without determining which crimes were allegedly committed and noted that the academics insisted on their demand of peace.

On May 15, 2016, Asst. Prof. Dr. Esra Mungan, Asst. Prof. Dr. Muzaffer Kaya, Assoc. Prof. Dr Kıvanç Ersoy were arrested, and on March 31, 2016 Asst. Prof. Dr. Meral Camcı was arrested after returning to Turkey from abroad where she was at the time when the arrest warrant was issued. The academics were charged with "terror propaganda" and were released on April 22, 2016.

After the State of Emergency was declared, 380 academics who signed the peace declaration, were discharged from their positions through statutory decrees. Also tens of academics, who had a position at foundation universities, were discharged as well.

Charges

Each academic face up to 7.5 years in prison. The investigation is carried out by İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

Turkish Anti-Terror Act

Article 7(2)

Any person making propaganda for a terrorist organisation shall be punished with imprisonment from one to five years. If this crime is committed through means of mass media, the penalty shall be aggravated by one half. In addition, editors-in-chief (...)2
who have not participated in the perpetration of the crime shall be punished with a judicial fine from one thousand to fifteen thousand days' rates. However, the upper limit of this sentence for editors-in-chief is five thousand days' rates.

According to the indictment, the evidences regarding the alleged crime are;

• The investigation report that concerns the statement of Bese Hozat--the co-president of the PKK/KCK terrorist organization's executive committee--that is dated December 27, 2015.-;

• The investigation reports on the academics who signed the petition (suspects) concerning the press declarations on January 11, 2016 (first declaration) and March 10, 2016 (second declaration) that are allegedly of a supportive nature in favour of PKK/KCK terrorist organization;

• Records of statement and interrogation reports of the suspects and the arrest warrants issued for them.

148 academics who are among the first ones of the 1,128 academics to stand trial are from the following universities:

Galatasaray University, İstanbul University, Yıldız Teknik University, İstanbul Teknik University, Marmara University, Boğaziçi University, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Yeni Yüzyıl University, Apriltaşı University, Kadir Has University, Özyeğin University, Bahçeşehir University, Kemerburgaz University, Arel University and Işık University.

(BK/TK)

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