Hearings of 2 Academics Held

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Trial of 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, continued in İstanbul Çağlayan Courthouse today (December 5).

At the İstanbul 30th Heavy Penal Court, Research Assistant T.Ç.E. from İstanbul Bilgi University had the second hearing and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Y.B. from Dicle University had the first hearing.

The court board consisted of Presiding Judge Utku Ercan; Members Ahmet Tarık Çiftçioğlu, Selçuk Kurt; and Prosecutor Mustafa Güner.

Judge: "We will combine case files in groups"

Presenting the statement of defense, academic T.Ç.E. denied all of the pressed charges and requested immediate acquittal. The Prosecutor's Office announced its opinion as to the accusations and demanded that T.Ç.E. be penalized as per the Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK).

The court board granted additional time to the defendant and the attorney so that they could prepare their statement of defense as to the accusations. The court board, which previously combined all case files of academics heard by the court, stated that they will combine the case files of academics in groups in later stages "since the combined files will be too crowded."

The next hearings of both academics will be held on March 22, 2019.

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. With the participation of further academics, the number of academics who have signed the declaration has reached 2,212.

With the indictment issued by the Prosecutor İsmet Bozkurt, lawsuits were filed against the academics on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article No. 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law No. 3713.

As of December 5, 2018, 392 academics had stood trial since December 5, 2017. 38 of these academics were sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison and all of the sentences were suspended, except for those of Prof. Dr. Zübeyde Füsun Üstel from Galatasaray University and Prof. Dr. Büşra Ersanlı from Marmara University.

The penalty of Prof. Dr. Üstel was not deferred on the grounds that "she did not demand deferment of the announcement of the verdict and that she did not make a statement of penitence." As for the penalty of Prof. Dr. Büşra Ersanlı, it was not deferred on the ground that "no opinion as to her avoidance of committing offense has emerged considering her personality which does not express any remorse."

On March 10, 2016, the Academics for Peace made a statement for press and shared with the public what they had been going through since the declaration "We will not be a party to this crime" was published. The academics Dr. Lecturer Esra Mungan, Dr. Lecturer Muzaffer Kaya, Assoc. Prof. Dr Kıvanç Ersoy (March 15, 2016) and Dr. Lecturer Meral Camcı (March 31, 2016), who read out the above-mentioned statement for press, were arrested on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article No. 7/2 of the Turkish Anti-Terror Law. They were released on April 2016. Upon the request of the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Justice granted a permission of trial as per the Article No. 301 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 301 on charges of "insulting the Turkish Nation, the State of the Republic of Turkey and the institutions and organs of the government."

The trials still continue. (TP/SD)